Boys Of Summer
by Even Gods Dream
Summary: AU Taito Matt has been unwillingly shipped off to Summer Camp after his father decided to go away for the summer. Tai has willingly spent his last few summers there and this year takes a liking to his blonde roommate. Rating will change
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hello people. I'm back with yet more Taito. I know I probably shouldn't have started another story, but this is something that yet again woudln't leave me alone. Anyway, it's a bit of fluffy fun for summer. :) This chapter is a bit more like a prologue I guess. Starts off kinda slow. But enjoy!

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**Boys of Summer  
**Chapter One: _Welcome To Camp Haven_

The fingers of Matt Ishida drummed impatiently against his knee. It was early in the morning, at least in his opinion much too early to be up and dressed with perfect hair and already in the car. He briefly checked his hair in the car's rear-view mirror then continued staring out of the window as trees and fields flashed by, cursing himself for leaving his iPod in the bottom of his bag.

"Won't be long now," his father reassured from the front seat.

"Whatever," Matt shrugged. He was in no way happy about this trip, not one bit, and he was not going to pretend otherwise, least of all for the sake of his father. It had all been a last minute decision anyway. His father's most recent live-in girlfriend had been whining that he worked too hard and wasn't spending enough time (which in Matt's eyes translated as money) on her. His father's relationship quick fix had been to book a last minute cruise for the summer, just the two of them, and that meant shipping Matt off to Summer Camp, something Matt had never experienced before. He was used to staying home when his father went away, either being left with whoever his father was dating at the time or even alone, but after the chaotic aftermath of a wild party his father had come home to last time, he'd vowed not to leave Matt home alone again. Matt had no idea what to expect from the stay, but if the sign they'd passed a while back was anything to go by (Camp Haven: Your Summer Of Fun Starts In Five Miles. Don't Forget To Smile), it would be the cheesiest and most cringe-worthy month of his life. His expectations of the other kids there left a lot to be desired. He presumed they'd be the type who had no friends and as such nothing better to do with their summers than spend four and a bit weeks at a camp with other nerdy kids. He was gracious of the fact, however, that it was a 13-17 year old camp only, which meant no annoying little kids running round. There was no way he could have handled that.

Staring out of the back window, Matt groaned inwardly as he saw another large sign that read 'Camp Haven: Your Summer Of Fun Starts Here' and his father turned the car up the long dirt driveway that eventually emerged into the camp. Matt couldn't help but credit it for its size, from where he was it seemed huge, and he knew he couldn't even see the whole of it.

As his father pulled up outside the main building, Matt grudgingly got out of the car and slammed the door shut. He briefly took in his surroundings. The ground was dirty, but the atmosphere seemed one of excitement, something that ground on his nerves slightly. There were kids milling about everywhere, greeting each other, saying goodbye to their parents, wandering around looking lost. Directly in front of him was a large building, built on high foundations with decking surrounding each side. The sign above the door read 'Meet and Greet: Administration Centre'. A middle-aged man stood on the decking with a microphone shouting instructions that 'all campers must report to the reception area at the front of the main building within the next ten minutes'.

Matt watched his father open the boot of the car and pull his bags out, but retrieved his guitar from the car on his own. Though it was safe and protected in its case, Matt didn't trust anyone else handling it, especially people he was pissed off at. He pulled his bags too him, wrapping the straps around his shoulders.

"Right Matt, are you okay?" His father asked as he handed Matt his last bag.

"Yeah," Matt frowned, sarcasm filling his voice, "I'm absolutely great,"

"That's the spirit," The man snorted, cocking an eyebrow, "Matt you know I had no other choice. I'm sure you'll enjoy it here anyway, the people seem… friendly,"

"Yeah, _too_ friendly,"

"Alright then…" Mr. Ishida said awkwardly, "I'll call you, okay? We may be back before camp finishes anyway, so we may come and get you early," he tried to sound reassuring, but Matt just scowled in response. "Right, okay, well, have fun Matt. See you in a month or so," and with that he got in his car and drove away, leaving Matt to tug all his bags up the steps and to reception.

The reception area was fairly large, adorned with many pictures of previous camp trips. There were several desks in the centre of the room, each with a queue in front and an administrator behind. Lazily, Matt joined the shortest queue. He soon found himself second from the front behind a slender brunette who was bent forward with his elbows on the desk. Matt hadn't been paying attention to the conversation between the boy and the receptionist until he got impatient; the brunette was taking much longer than anyone else had.

"Aw come on Nancy. You gotta do something! For me?" The boy whined sweetly, and Matt could tell by the tone in his voice that he was pulling puppy dog eyes.

The young woman at the desk rolled her eyes jovially, "Tai you know I'm not in charge of the designations. I just tell you what they've decided,"

"I know. But you can try and pull some strings can't you? Or just retype it in the filing system or whatever it is," The boy, Tai, begged, then leant further over the desk and looked at the screen. "Look, can't you just change it here aaaand… here?" He asked, pointing to the screen.

"Oh, come _on_," Matt groaned loudly, sick of waiting.

The brunette turned around and faced Matt, carefully staring the blonde up and down. Matt stared threateningly right back into the other boys wide brown eyes.

"There are other people waiting, y'know?" he spat.

Tai merely shot Matt a friendly smile then turned back to Nancy the receptionist.

"But you'll see what you can do right?"

"Yes Tai, I'll try,"

"Thanks Nancy. See you round," He smiled, then picked up his bags and walked through the doors at the back of the reception room.

Matt stepped forward to the desk and Nancy greeted him with a friendly smile.

"Hey, what's your name please?"

"Matt," he stated roughly "Matt Ishida,"

"Hey Matt. Welcome to Camp Haven," Nancy smiled as she typed his name into the computer, "First time here?"

"Yes,"

"Oooh, you seem so happy about it," She joked, "I promise it isn't as cheesy as they make it sound. Right, here we are," She tapped the computer screen, "Your colour is blue and you're in Chalet 6. If you go into the main hall through the double doors behind me, there'll be a meeting held and they'll tell you everything else you need to know. Oh, and here are your shirts," she handed him a folded blue t-shirt and polo-shirt which he took from her begrudgingly as he walked to the back of the room and through the double doors into the main hall.

Carefully he glanced around his new surroundings. The hall was large with tables and chairs stacked up against the walls. Light flooded in through large windows set in the far wall, casting criss-cross shadows across the shiny wooden floor. A set of double doors was positioned between two of the larger windows. The hall was quickly filling up with teenagers each carrying their bags and coloured shirts. He couldn't help but notice he had more bags than anyone else. Along one wall was a line of adults, mostly dressed in shorts and polo shirts. Amongst the crowd Matt spotted the slender brunette from reception conversing animatedly with a small group of boys.

Cautiously he walked over to a pile of stacked tables and placed his bags on them, leaning against the tables and protectively holding his guitar to him. He waited impatiently as other kids gradually filled the room and once again cursed himself for leaving his iPod in the bottom of his bag.

Eventually the room seemed full and the man who'd been outside with the megaphone came in with a middle-aged woman and silenced everyone.

"Good morning people. Welcome to Camp Haven. For those of you who are new this year, I'm Bill," He introduced himself casually then signalled to the woman on his left, "and this is Anne. We're the head leaders here, and over there are the rest of the leaders," he explained pointing to the line of staff against the wall, "Anne and I are in charge of the camp as a whole, but each colour group will be assigned three leaders and many activities will have speciality leaders. Remember for some of them it's their first year too, so make them feel comfortable. Anyway, you've all been assigned your colour and chalet number, we've got a month ahead of us so let's get started. First thing that will happen this morning is a tour of the entire campsite. It is compulsory and we've added some new buildings this year. You'll leave your stuff here and can come and collect it afterwards because then you'll be taken back to your chalets and you'll have the afternoon to unpack and get to know your room and group mates. In the evening we'll all meet in the auditorium for a run over of the whole month. Now, if you can put all your belongings to the side of the room and head onto the field at the back, Anne and I will start the tour,"

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Exhausted, Matt lay back on the bed he had chosen to be his. The tour was over and he was now inside his chalet, which consisted of four beds – two on each side of the room facing into the centre, each with a bedside table – two small wardrobes and a small toilet cubicle that had a sign on it reading 'only in case of emergency'. The beds were surprisingly comfy, and the chalet had an almost calming feel to it. The whole camp was actually pretty amazing, it was huge and had everything from a pool to a music block. The surrounding area was beautiful. It was placed at the edge of a still lake and small beach and was surrounded by forests. Matt's stubborn nature however, forbade him from seeing the positives of the camp just yet. For now he just wanted to chill out and feel annoyed at his father and his father's girlfriend. His thoughts were interrupted when the door of the chalet swung open and two boys walked in.

"Yes, but Davis, you realise the chances of them letting him are ridiculously small in your favour, especially after last year," one boy stated with an extreme matter-of-fact tone cutting into his voice.

"Yeah, but there's still a chance right? And if not, we'll just whine until they let us," came the rather obnoxious reply.

Matt sat up to see the boys the voices came from. One was rather short with ginger hair, dressed in an orange shirt and jeans. The other was much taller with mahogany hair wearing black ¾ lengths and a blue t-shirt. The boys glanced up when they saw Matt on his bed and the bags that surrounded him and looked at each other. Matt couldn't help but notice the slight shake of the taller boy's head before he introduced himself.

"Hey there. I'm Davis," the boy held out his hand for Matt to shake, but still feeling sullen and stubborn, Matt refused it and simply stated his own name.

"Um, right-o," Davis uneasily withdrew his hand, "Well, Matt, this is Izzy," He gestured to the red head.

"Hello," Izzy greeted with a cautious smile.

"Okay, anyway, Izzy, what bed d'ya want?" Davis asked happily.

"I'll take this one," Izzy decided, placing his bags on the bed nearest the door on the opposite side to Matt's.

"Okay, I'll have the one next to you then!" Davis practically jumped on the bed opposite Matt's.

The door of the chalet swung open again as the fourth and final roommate made his way in. He was short, only just 13 and had a mass of black hair on his head with a fringe that covered just one eye.

"Hi, er, I'm Carl," he said nervously.

"Hey Carl. I'm Davis, he's Izzy and that's Matt over there," Davis smiled, "I should probably warn you both though, Matt and Carl, that one of you is likely to be getting switched to another colour and chalet, so I wouldn't make yourselves too comfy yet,"

"You're kidding, right?" Matt groaned, "I'm not moving. Why the hell should I anyway?"

"Our friend Tai wants to share with us. He's shared with Davis every year but this year they've separated them. Tai's up in administration at the moment trying to persuade them to move him in here, but after last year's events, the chances of that happening are minimal to say the least," Izzy explained.

"Ahh, Izzy, you underestimate the power of persuasion. Tai's a legend at it. By tonight, if not tomorrow, Tai will be in here and one of these guys will be gone. My money's on Carl, knowing-"

Izzy silenced the boy with a glare.

"What? I'm just saying Blondie's gonna be too stubborn to move," Davis defended himself and his near slip up.

Matt frowned, thinking there was something strange about what happened, but being too tired to find out exactly what. He got off his bed and began to unpack some of his things. He leant his guitar against the wall at the side of his bed and placed some of his clothes in the two bottom drawers of his bedside table. The top drawer he filled with two bags. One of which contained many a hair product, the other containing chargers for his iPod and phone. He placed his iPod and the speakers for it on top of the bedside table and put his phone next to them. He left the rest of his clothes and belongings in his bags and pushed them under his bed. He flipped back on his bed and watched the other boys as they unpacked. Bored, he pulled out his iPod and stuck the headphones in, scrolling through the playlist to choose a song he felt in the mood for. He closed his eyes and let the music wash over him, letting it sooth him. He got so lost in it he barely noticed when Tai burst into the room.

"Howdiiie!" The brunette shouted, bouncing into the room.

"Tai! They're letting you stay here?" Davis grinned.

"Damn right they are," Tai swung his bag down onto the floor and reached his fist out. Davis met it with his own.

"See Izzy, what did I tell you about Tai's powers of persuasion?"

From his position on his bed, Izzy looked over the top of his laptop and nodded at Tai.

"Well done," he muttered, then turned his attention back to the laptop.

"Okay so who else do we have here?" Tai asked, glancing around the room. His eyes immediately set on Matt lying on his bed in the corner, "Oh,"

"Hah, nice reaction. So that is Blondie, is it?"

"Uh huh," Tai nodded, a small smile settling on his face before he turned his attention to Carl.

"Hey, uh, I'm Carl," the black-haired boy held out his hand, which Tai met and shook.

"Hi Carl, the name's Tai. Erm, look Carl, either you or Blondie's gotta go up to admin to switch colour and stuff," Tai shifted from foot to foot, hoping that Matt couldn't hear. He'd much rather the black haired kid leave than the blonde hottie.

"Oh, right, um, that's okay, I'll go. He said he wouldn't anyway. I'll see you guys round camp, yeah?" Carl smiled uneasily, heaving his packed bag onto his back and walking towards the door, "It was nice to meet you all,"

"You too Carl,"

"Bye!"

And with that the boy was gone.

"Sooo," Tai said, bouncing onto his bed, "Um, can he hear us?" he signalled at Matt, who was still lying on his bed with his headphones in, eyes shut tight, mouthing words along every so often.

"Psh, doubt it, that things turned up really loud. Could hear it from my bed," Davis smiled.

"So who is he?"

"His name's Matt, that's pretty much all we got out of him. It's like you said, drop dead gorgeous but moody as hell, pretty rich by the looks of things too," Davis rolled his eyes.

"Hm, weird. Maybe he's just nervous. I guess it's his first time here, never seen him round here before anyway. I bet we can draw him out of it," Tai mused.

"Tai are you forgetting something? A certain guy back home by the name of Paul? You know, your boyfriend?" Davis cocked an eyebrow at the brunette boy.

"Hey, you know I wouldn't forget him. I'm not gonna try it on with Blondie or anything, but it can't hurt to have a hot new friend, right?" Tai grinned playfully.

"Sure, okay," Davis rolled his eyes as he watched his best friend watch the blonde newcomer. "Well it's going to be an interesting summer to say the least," he muttered, and Tai was so caught up in staring at the pretty blonde, he barely even noticed.

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Review for more please :) 

-- _Even Gods Dream, July 2007_


	2. Chapter 2: Deep Waters

A/N: Ah, chapter 2. Well, my exam results come tomorrow and I really wanted to get this up before I had them, otherwise I knew I'd be feeling too down to do anything about getting it up. I'm literally uploading this quickly in between just coming back from a date and getting ready to go to a party, and due to me wanting it up before tomorrow, I haven't had a chance to beta it properly, so I do apologise, I've run through it quickly to make sure it's as okay as I can though.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy, and if anyone else is getting exam results over the next week or so, good luck!

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Chapter Two: Deep Waters

"Hey, Matt?" Tai tapped the blonde's knee to get his attention, due to him still listening to his headphones.

"Yes?" Matt pulled them out and looked up at the brunette expectantly.

"So everyone's going up to the communal block in about half an hour to do the whole introduction thing before we go to the auditorium for the evening and I thought, uh, you might want to come with us?" Tai asked uneasily. It was late in the afternoon on the first day, and since the harsh few words in reception, this was the first conversation that Matt and Tai had.

"Is it compulsory?" Matt frowned.

Tai laughed slightly in response, causing Matt's frown to harden, "No Matt, hardly anything here is full on compulsory. I just thought you might want to see the communal block properly considering it wasn't part of the tour,"

The camp consisted of three colour groups – red, white and blue – and each colour group had a Communal Block set between the two rows of cabins (one row for the boys, one for the girls). The blocks consisted of showers, toilets, a sitting room, a kitchen and small dining room.

"So why would I join you if I don't have to?" Matt scowled.

"Like I said, you didn't see the block on the tour and it's got pretty much everything you'll need. Plus we'll get to meet the rest of the group," Tai answered Matt's question straightly, ignoring the blonde's rude tone.

"Yeah, I'm not really interested, thanks," Sarcasm dripped from Matt's 'polite' tone.

"Right, your choice," Tai rolled his eyes, "Offer's still open if you change your mind," but Matt had already put his headphones back in.

"Well that was successful," Davis commented from his bed.

"He'll come around eventually," Tai smiled knowingly, "So shall we go up to the block now?"

"Tai, the group isn't due up there for another 27 minutes," Izzy stated.

"No harm in going up early, besides, I need to charge my phone and the only plug things are up there,"

"Fair point, mine needs charging too. I meant to do it at yours last night," Davis agreed, "You coming up Iz? No doubt that laptop needs a bit of charging,"

"No. I'm working on some HTML at the moment. I'll join you when everyone else comes up," Izzy said, not removing his eyes from the laptop as he tapped away at the keyboard.

"Okay, in a bit," Tai jumped over to Davis, pulling him up from his bed before both boys grabbed their phones and chargers, practically skipping out of the door and up the dirt path towards the Communal Block.

"So what exactly have you got planned for getting Matt out of his shell?" Davis enquired with a smirk.

"Plan? Dai, we've been here like three hours, I have no plan. I _need_ no plan,"

"Hah, of course, you aren't smart enough for a plan,"

"Nu-uh, I'm _too_ smart. It'll come easily,"

"Doubt it. Have you _seen_ that guy's stuff? His fancy phone and his iPod-shuffle-nano-who-the-whatsit? He's rich as hell and you know how stuck up and stubborn little rich boys are,"

"Not all of them. Not necessarily. If he was like the rest of them I doubt he'd be here under any circumstances," Tai sighed.

"Whatever you say Big Guy," Davis skipped up the steps of the block and opened the door, holding it open for Tai, "So anyway," he started as he stepped into the block, "Anyone else come back this year?"

"Well obviously me, you, Iz and Mimi. I think Mimi said that Yolei girl was coming. Um. I'm not too sure about anyone else," Taichi mused as he and Davis plugged their phones and phone chargers into a wall socket in the lounge area of the block.

"Fair enough," Davis shrugged as they took seats on a blue sofa.

Tai lay back, making himself comfortable, surveying his surroundings. The walls had been repainted a slightly deeper shade of blue since last summer and there were several new couches placed around the L-shaped room. The same pictures were hung on the wall as always had been - signed photos of Blue Groups from previous years along with awards they'd won. In one corner a small TV was rested on a stand and on the table opposite it was a small radio. There was also a small bookshelf stacked against the far wall.

"Ahh, it's good to be back," Tai stretched happily. Out of the five and a half summers he'd spent there, this was the third he and Davis had been in the Blue Group.

"Yeah, I reckon we're in for a fantastic month," Davis agreed, just as a figure emerged at the top of the stairs, walking down quickly.

"Ah, we thought we heard voices," the figure said.

Tai and Davis glanced up to see the familiar face of Joe, a group leader they'd had for the previous two years.

"Aw, hey Joe," Tai and Davis greeted.

"Well if it isn't Tai Kamiya and his sidekick Davis," he laughed lightly, "Looks like I'm in for a hectic summer. How've you boys been?"

"Oh we're good. How about you? How's your year been?"

They spent the next half hour catching up, along with the other two group leaders - Kim, who'd been there the year before, and Alex who was new that year.

Eventually though, the rest of the group began to file in, taking seats on the sofas or on the floor as they pleased.

Izzy was last to enter, after everyone else had quietened down and was waiting for the leaders to speak.

"Sorry we're late. I suffered HTML difficulties," he apologised, and Tai found it hard to believe his eyes when he saw he entered behind him. In the doorway stood the hot, arrogant blonde known as Matt, though under the stares of so many people, his arrogance seemed to have subsided a little, and he nervously fiddled with the hem of his shirt, muttering his own apology before following Izzy and taking a seat next to him.

"Looks like Izzy got to the shell breaking before you Tai," Davis whispered, amused. Tai just scowled back at him.

It took just over half an hour for everyone to introduce themselves, each giving their name and saying something about them. The group consisted of 44 people overall - 22 boys, 19 girls and the three leaders.

After the introductions, the group headed up towards the auditorium. It was a large building, somewhat resembling the coliseum, though less dilapidated and smaller. It was in the shape of a semi-circle, with levelled benches all facing towards a large stage at the centre front.

The three groups piled in, the blues taking the seats towards the right of the stage, whites at the centre and reds at the left.

As the groups settled, Anne and Bill entered the stage, each holding a microphone.

"Hey campers! Welcome back!" Bill greeted cheerfully, "I hope you've all had good days and have managed to sort out your Cabins properly. We're here now just to run over the rules of the camp and activities and things, then we'll head up to the meet and greet for a warm meal. Now as many of you who've attended Camp Haven before know, we have a fairly no pressure approach. You're teenagers after all, not little kids and we understand you'll have 'bad' days or just won't want to be involved in everything. However, we won't allow you to spend the whole month locked up in your cabin, we want you to join in, get to know people and most of all have fun!"

"Exactly," Anne agreed, taking over so Bill could have a breather, "Which is why we put together timetables. All activities are shared as a group and each group geets a go at everything at least once. Some activities, such as Friday Night Specials or Contests are shared with the camp as a whole. Your timetables will alert you to this and will be distributed to your group leaders after this meeting. There will be one large copy per group to put up in the Communal Blocks and also a smaller copy for each cabin. When you see your timetable you'll see there are a lot of frees or Gas - group assigned activities - spread across the month. These are for your Group leaders to discuss with you later, though the frees are pretty much to do what you want with. You'll also find that for the first three weeks, each group takes it in turn to go into the forest camping from the Monday to Friday. This is compulsory. Right, there's nothing else to explain about timetables, is there Bill?" Anne double-checked with her colleague.

"No. Now I have to briefly run over the rules. Firstly, no one is allowed to leave the campsite without one of the group leaders or Anne or myself. That includes going into the forest or past the marked area on the beach. We have everything you need onsite, so there should be no reason to leave. Secondly, if you choose not to partake in a scheduled activity, you must let your group leader know and tell them where you'll be instead. During this time, you are not allowed to participate in activities with other groups. Thirdly, after 10 o'clock, everyone must be in their cabins - or at least in the group block. Lastly, all illegal activity - obviously - is forbidden. As much as you're all disappointed, this isn't Warped Tour, so forget the sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. That goes for smoking and alcohol too. We expect not to see any boys in girl's cabins and vice versa after 9.30 pm. Any rule-breakers will be dealt with and will lose points from their team, which brings me to the scoreboard and contests. Every Sunday is contest day. Basically, we'll have soccer tournaments, dance-offs, and all sorts held between the groups, and for each one a group wins, they get five points toward their score at the end of the day. Tomorrow you'll all get to choose extra activities to be judged on contest days. Points are also given through out the week for various things, such as full group participation. At the end of the month, the group with most points is rewarded with gift vouchers for each group member and a certificate to be put up in the block,"

Anne and Bill rambled on a bit more - about uniform and usage of the block etc - but Tai couldn't concentrate on what they were saying, not that he really needed to anyway. He was more focused on Matt, who was sat two seats away from him, with Izzy between them. The blonde seemed to be half listening to the camp leaders, but his mind seemed to be off elsewhere as he yet again fiddled with the hem of his shirt. Tai sighed, wondering why the blonde was so moody, and where on earth he'd come from. He couldn't get the boy out of his head, and it was annoying him. But he knew that sometimes things happen like that; sometimes you meet someone and before you've even spoken to them properly, all you want to do is know more about them, and there's nothing you can do but try.

The next two hours passed fairly quickly, the auditorium meeting finished, and the groups were led up to the Meet and Greet centre for their dinner in the large hall they'd met in that morning. The four boys sat at a table for six along with Tai, Davis and Izzy's friend Mimi and her friend, Yolei. Throughout the meal, Matt said very little, though he certainly gained the girls' attention well, but Tai noticed he seemed slightly less uptight than he previously had.

Once dinner had ended, the groups headed back to their quarters. Most of the blue group headed into the block to pick up timetables and just hang out before bed, but Matt seemed more interested in going back to his cabin, and typically, after hearing this, Tai decided he'd accompany him.

The walk down the dirty path from the block to the cabin was silent, with the two boys walking next to each other, Matt leaving a wide space between them. The sun was beginning to set, casting a pinkish horizon. Neither boy said a word until they reached the cabin, when Tai muttered 'home sweet home' and Matt forced a half smile at him.

Once inside, Tai flounced down on his bed and watched Matt as he fumbled for his phone, pushing a few buttons and pressing it to his ear. After a few seconds he let out an exasperated sigh, and then hung up, walking to the other side of the cabin only to do the same thing.

"No signal?" Tai laughed gently, knowingly.

"No. It's not funny," Matt frowned.

"Sorry, it's just half of the phone networks don't work up here, especially in the Cabins. It does warn you in the leaflets and such," Tai explained.

"Do I look like I read the pissing leaflets?" Matt strutted to another corner of the room, trying to dial again, and failing.

"Um, no?" Tai gave what he thought was the right answer, "Who you trying to ring anyway?"

"My band," Matt grumbled.

"Any particular reason?"

"They didn't know I was coming here. _I_ didn't know. It's gonna mess up a lot of our plans for the summer," Matt groaned, "I just need to let them know and just… talk to them and stuff, y'know? Grr, where's the best place to get signal in this dive?"

"Probably up by Meet and Greet," Tai said, studying Matt carefully before deciding something, "You can borrow mine if you like though. It's on a network that works here,"

Matt glanced up from his phone, seemingly surprised at the offer, especially after the way he'd been acting with the brunette. "Really?"

"Sure, but it's in the block. Wanna come up and get it?" Tai offered.

"M'kay,"

They left the cabin quickly, the silence briefly settling between them again.

"So… you're in a band then?" Tai attempted making conversation.

Matt nodded.

"How long for?"

"Um. Since I was thirteen. There've been a few line-up changes since, but me and my best mates Tom and Brian, we've all been in it since we were thirteen. We started it," Matt scuffed his shoes into the dirt path. He was feeling uneasy and Tai was making him feel almost shy - and he didn't know why.

"That's cool. You're serious about it then?" It didn't slip Tai's attention that just that one question about his band really seemed to help Matt open up.

"As serious as I'm allowed to be I guess," Matt huffed, kicking a stray stone up the path.

Tai was about to ask what exactly he meant when Davis stuck his head out of the block door and started yelling at them.

"Tai! You joining us now? We were just about to head back! Something about Izzy's laptop…"

"Nah, I just came for my phone!" Tai shouted back, then gave Matt an apologetic glance, but he just shrugged in response.

"Ah course. Can't leave Paul for a minute, can you?" Davis chuckled as the two boys neared the door, holding it open for them.

"Actually, I'm lending it to Matt," Tai grinned, grabbing his phone and charger from the side table they'd been left on. "Here ya go," He passed the phone to the blonde, "Take it back to the Cabin. We'll see you there in five minutes I guess,"

"K," Matt turned to walk out, then turned back to Tai, shooting him a genuine smile, "Thanks so much," Then he was gone.

Tai couldn't help but blush at the honesty of Matt's smile, but he quickly shook it off, turning back to Davis, who was waiting with his own sarky comment.

"So you chose lending your phone to Blondie over calling Paul? The hot rich blonde kid over your own boyfriend? Nice going Tai,"

"Hey, he needed it. I felt bad for him!" Tai defended, "I'm gonna call Paul after,"

"Right…" Davis cocked an eyebrow, but Tai changed the subject, turning his attention to Izzy.

"So, Izzy, what did you say to him to get him to lose the attitude… well, sort of lose the attitude?"

"Basically what we all know. That he's stuck here for a month so there's no point being moody for the whole of it and that we're all nice, normal people, he might as well try and loosen up," Izzy rationalized, "Can we please go back to the Cabin now? I left half of my discs there,"

---

By the time they got back to the Cabin, Matt was just finishing up on the phone.

"Yeah Tom. I'll try and keep in touch, okay? And again, I'm really sorry. It was just out of my control… Yeah… Yeah, good luck… Thanks… Bye," He hung up, placing the phone next to him on the bed where he was lying. He exhaled deeply, closing his eyes.

"You okay Matt?" Tai asked cautiously.

"Yeah," Matt muttered, "Oh, thanks for lending me the phone. Here," He picked it up and stretched his arm towards Tai, who took the phone off him, fingers briefly touching.

"Um, I'm gonna go outside and phone Paul, okay guys?" Tai decided, swiftly leaving the Cabin.

"Told you," Davis laughed to Izzy, shaking his head slightly, "He misses him already,"

"A whole month apart is going to be torture for them," Izzy rolled his eyes, knowing that Tai and Paul saw each other nearly every day.

"Yep. Anyway, Matt, Tai said you were phoning your band? How were they?" Davis asked, settling on his own bed.

"Oh. Um, not too good. They didn't know I was coming here and now they have to find a new guitarist and singer for the gigs this summer, and… yeah, it's really just one big mess" Matt sighed, rubbing at his eyes.

"Ah man, that really sucks. So how come they didn't know?" Davis enquired.

"_I _didn't know. My dad booked a last minute holiday with his girlfriend and didn't trust me alone for a month - despite the fact we have maids and stuff. But, I've made some mistakes he's found out about when he's been away before, so he didn't want more I guess. But yeah, last minute holiday and this was the only place he could pay enough to look after me for a month,"

"Ouch. Don't worry, this place isn't so bad mind," Davis reasoned.

"Maybe. Anyway, what about you guys? What are you three here for?"

"What d'you mean?" Davis frowned.

"Well why have your parents chucked you in here? You seem like pretty decent guys I guess,"

"They didn't 'chuck us in'. We're here 'cause we want to be. We've been coming for years,"

"Really?"

"Er, yeah,"

"But it seems like such a… lame place. You can't seriously tell me it's fun, right?"

"That's exactly what I'm telling you," Davis grinned, "I know it sounds lame, but it isn't. I mean seriously, this is Tai's fifth time, technically sixth, and he's never got bored. It's my fourth and Izzy's third, and seriously, we all love it,"

Matt looked across the room at Izzy, as if for confirmation.

"He's telling the truth. Mind you, those two love it because they mess around and bend the rules as far as possible, but I'm sure you'll have a good time in spite of them,"

"Hey! That's just mean! Matt can have a good time _with_ us!" Davis nodded smugly.

"Um, yeah. We'll see about that 'good time'. Somehow I just don't buy it yet," Matt yawned.

"Suit yourself,"

"Yeah. I'm gonna get some sleep now," Matt grabbed some clothes from his bag that were passable as pyjamas, then went into the 'emergency only' toilet to change. When he came back in he flipped himself down on his bed, got under his covers and put his headphones back in, closing his eyes as the familiar music washed over him.

By 12 o'clock, even Tai and Davis were asleep, tired after the excitement of their first day. Matt on the other hand, couldn't quite get to sleep; he was too busy lying awake worrying about how his band would hold up without him. Slowly and quietly, so as not to wake the other boys, he got out of his bed and reached for his guitar, sitting back on his bed as he removed it from its case. He sighed, stroking over the smooth wood, before bringing his hands to the strings. He'd wanted to take his electric guitar with him, but knew he'd never be able to carry all the amps and peddles. He positioned his hands on the guitar and softly began to play, quietly enough to not wake his roommates, or so he thought.

Tai woke up slowly to the sound of a guitar. He was just about to roll over and tell whoever it was to shut it, when he realised that the tune that was playing was actually rather beautiful and soothing. He stayed where he was, lying on his side surrounded by his quilt and just listened to every twist and turn that the piece took. He knew Matt was serious about music, but he had no idea he was this talented.

He stayed awake listening for as long as he could, but eventually he fell back asleep, lulled by the wonderful music.

---

Sunday went quickly. The groups spent their mornings assigning the extra activities. Naturally Tai and Davis chose soccer, Matt chose music and Izzy was one of the only ones to choose technology. Their afternoon was spent being introduced to their activities and what their contests would entail. For Matt it meant spending time in the Music Block, which he wasn't complaining about, and the contests would consist of play offs. There were even enough people doing music to be able to consider putting together a band. Davis and Tai just had soccer tournaments on the Sundays and were meant to spend whenever they could practising. Izzy, on the other hand, could just do what he usually does, and spend as much time as possible glued to his laptop. There were LAN gaming sessions in the IT block every Sunday.

In the evening they had another camp meal, in order to say goodbye to the White Group who were camping from Monday morning.

The blues were made to have an early night, as they had to be up early the next day to start their assigned activity on time; canoeing.

---

"Come on guys! Everyone up! You need to be dressed and in the block in half an hour!" Joe yelled outside the door of the Cabin 6, as he, Kim and Alex made their way around the Cabins, making sure everyone was up. He pushed open the door and gave Tai - who was still curled up in his bed - a prod in the side, "Come on boys, get up!"

Tai let out a low groan and sat up slowly, pushing his covers off him and getting out of bed.

"Okay, okay, I'm up," He grumbled.

"Can you get the others up too?" Joe requested.

"Yeah. Yeah sure," Tai yawned, pressing a hand against his mouth.

"Thanks. Block in 30 minutes, okay?" Joe confirmed before leaving.

"Right," Tai said, then grabbed a pillow from his bed, "Oi! Davis! Up!" He yelled, throwing the pillow across the room at his best friend. Izzy was already slowly making his way up and out of bed.

"Okay, okay I'm up," Davis grumbled, sitting up in his bed and grabbing the pillow, throwing at back at Tai, who caught it precisely, setting it back down on his bed, then setting his gaze on Matt, who was still a sleeping lump under his covers, breathing lightly.

"Guess I'd better wake up Blondie,"

"This could be interesting," Davis smirked.

Tai leant down next to Matt, giving him a slight prod.

"Matt," he whispered, "Matt, we have to get up,"

"Erngh…" Matt groaned, pulling away from Tai's touch.

"Matt!" Tai said, slightly louder, shaking the boy's shoulder, "Wake up!"

Matt rolled back over to face Tai, opening his eyes as much as he could, and Tai found himself staring into them for the first time since they'd met. He'd never seen such a beautiful pair of eyes before, even though they were still cloudy from sleep. They were a gorgeous crystalline blue, almost turquoise, and from the pupil spiked a darker, contrasting blue. The two tones complimented each other perfectly.

Matt, on the other hand, even though he was half asleep, couldn't help but notice how intricate Tai's eyes were, with their million shades of brown swirling around each other, in places almost as if in a battle of dominance.

"What time is it?" Matt weakly mumbled, breaking Tai's trance.

"Um, quarter past seven," He replied.

"You're kidding right?"

"Nuh-uh, we've got canoeing, remember? Come on, get up," Tai offered Matt his hand, pulling him out of the bed.

"7.15 is like still night time. I'm not used to getting up this early,"

"Well get used to it. It's not all that bad," Tai smiled, turning around to get dressed before going for breakfast in the block.

---

At night o'clock they were all stood in the forest at the edge of the lake, dressed in life-jackets and being given safety instructions. Their three group leaders and two specialists supervising them. It was two people to a boat, and naturally Tai and Davis paired up with each other, leaving Matt and Izzy to do the same.

The general task was simple, just to make their way to a spot further down the lake where they'd eat lunch and then spend the afternoon walking back up to the main campsite.

Most of the others had done it before, but Matt hadn't, and was extremely wary getting on the boat, to him it felt so damn unsteady, like it could go over at any minute. He managed to sit down though, and as Izzy sat behind him, the wobbling ceased slightly and he began to feel more comfortable. Tai and Davis on the other hand were happy messing about and making their canoe rock more than it should. Matt couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief he hadn't been partnered with one of them.

The journey started out slow, and half an hour in they weren't _that_ far away from where they'd started due to having trouble getting started, and many requests to stop by the younger kids who didn't have a clue what they were doing. By this point Tai and Davis had calmed down extremely, and Tai was leaning back against the edge of the boat taking in his surroundings. No matter how many times he'd made this boat trip, the beauty of the trees and the lakes always astounded him.

"It really is lovely out here, isn't it?" He mused aloud to no one in particular.

"Mmm," Davis agreed, staring up at the clouds.

They were so caught up in their surroundings that neither boy really noticed the loud splash behind them, or the quick shout of an expletive, but as soon as Tai heard Izzy yelling, he turned around and saw Matt struggling in the water, life jacket a foot or so away from him.

"Oh Jesus," Tai muttered to himself, making Davis stop the boat as best he could. He didn't watch for a second more as the blonde thrashed in the water, legs and arms kicking out in every direction, fighting just to keep his head out, Tai simply jumped in after him, swimming swiftly towards him, supporting him in his arms.

As quickly as they could, the leaders brought their boats around, but by the time they had, Tai had dragged Matt to the shore. Joe and Kim manoeuvred their canoe to the side, and jumped out, quickly double checking Matt was okay.

"And you, Tai! Next time, don't jump out, you could have put two lives in danger instead of one," Joe scowled as he handed both boys towels, "Right, Matt, you should be okay. Tai, can you walk him back up to the main campsite, it shouldn't take you long, but you're both excused this activity,"

"Sure, okay," Tai said, pulling Matt up from the floor by his hand, "You sure you okay man?"

Matt, completely embarrassed by what had just happened, merely nodded in response, neck red from all the attention being on him.

"Okay, see you this evening then guys," Tai waved as he and Matt made their way through some trees and onto the walkway.

Yet again, as they walked, the strangely comfortable silence settled between them, and they didn't exchange words again until they'd reached the camp.

"So, um, sorry about that," Matt mumbled discreetly.

"What? Nearly dying? Don't worry about it," Tai grinned, "You're okay now, plus it got me out of the uber-long walk back, _and_ it was kinda funny,"

Matt frowned, intently disliking the fact that Tai was finding amusement in his embarrassment, "Gee, thanks,"

"No problem,"

"No, really, um… thank you," Matt hesitated slightly.

"What for?"

"Well you practically just saved my life," Matt sighed, blushing slightly.

"All in a days work," Tai joked, adjusting the towel around his neck and smiling when he saw their Cabin not four feet in front of them.

"What are you? Superman or something?" Matt laughed slightly.

"Something like that," Tai beamed, loving the idea. He walked up the steps to his Cabin and held the door open for Matt, "So, um, how come you didn't just like swim back to the boat or something?"

"Erm… I guess I, like, panicked or something? Yeah, yeah I panicked," Matt stumbled.

"You sure? Certainly didn't look like panicking to me. And how come you didn't have your life jacket on?" Tai frowned.

"Eh.. heh, I did, I just didn't do it up. It creased my t-shirt too much," Matt blushed, realising just how stupid it sounded now.

"So, you were really just panicking then? It's not that you like, can't swim or anything?" The brunette boy interrogated.

Matt looked uneasy, and started to mumble something indistinct.

"You can't! Can you? You can't swim!" Tai accused, almost amused.

Matt said nothing.

"Hey, no big deal," Tai patted the blonde's shoulder, "I mean, um, I could always teach you if you want?"

"Erm, no, I'm okay, thanks. I'll live," Matt refused, though secretly wishing he could swim. When he was little, he'd been able to, he and his father even had their own pool at home, but since he was about 8, he'd stopped using it - the novelty seemed to wear off, and he hadn't been able to swim since.

"Aw come on! Look, we've got a whole month ahead of us and lots of frees, it'll be fun!" Tai pleaded.

"Really, it's okay,"

"Please?"

Matt let out a sigh, "Fine," he agreed, completely unaware of what he was letting himself in for.

* * *

Ernh. I'm going away next week, but I should have the internet with me, which means I'll have plenty of time to work on chapter 2, if I'm feeling up to it. So bare with me!

If you read, please review, and yet again, apologies for any spelling mistakes or vagueness.

_-- Even Gods Dream, 2007_


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Took my time, but here it is. I don't really know why I didn't get this up sooner considering when I went away I was working on it pretty much every spare moment I had. But oh well. Y'all enjoy now.

Thanks: To my beta, to everyone who reviewed last chapter, to everyone whose been posting lots of nice updates, to my parents for buying me a fancy laptop and to my sister for giving me some space to write this. Oh, and to the creators of Digimon. You're kick ass.

* * *

Chapter Three: Swimming Pools and Fireflies

"But it's cold enough out here, god knows I'll freeze my ass off in there!" Matt was standing at the side of the outdoor swimming pool in nothing but a pair of swimming trunks and a baggy band t-shirt whilst Tai happily stood in the shallow end of the pool, trying his best to coax Matt in. It was Tuesday morning, and the boys had a free period. Tai had woken Matt up at 9 o'clock – letting him have a lie in, he said, though Matt thought that even 9 o'clock was much too early – in order to begin his swimming lessons.

"It's heated, dummy. Now get in," Tai ordered, smiling up at the blonde, trying not to stare at his slim, milky white legs, "You can always leave the t-shirt on if you're worried about freezing,".

"I should never have let you talk me into this," Matt muttered, as he cautiously made his way down the steps.

"Too late to turn back now," Tai chuckled ominously before moving backwards slightly to give Matt more room, "Well you can stand in water at least," he commented, as Matt tried to make himself comfortable in the lukewarm water, taking a couple of steps around the shallow area of the pool, the water reaching his waist.

"I'm not completely water retarded y'know,"

"Whatever, now swim up there," Tai pointed up the length of the pool to the deep end, which to Matt seemed miles away. The pool was pretty massive.

"Um, Tai, I _can't_ swim. That's why I'm in a swimming pool at nine thirty in the morning with a fool like you," Matt said pointedly, in a rather patronising manner.

"Yeah, but I gotta see what you can do, right? Gotta know where to start,"

"Somehow I don't think having me drown myself is going to get us anywhere," Matt commented, "Why don't I just start in the shallow, hm?"

"Alright, fair point. Swim across the width by here then," Tai instructed, stepping back to give Matt room.

Matt turned around in order to face the opposite wall, then, with a determined look on his face, kicked off the floor and did his best to swim to the opposite side. He kicked his legs, trashing them out in all directions, and threw his arms out ahead of him, slapping at the water. Truthfully, he looked more like he was in a fight with the water than he did trying to swim in it. He got no further than a metre before he stood back up, unable to stay afloat any longer. Embarrassed, he turned around to stare at Tai, who, to Matt's utmost displeasure, was almost in stitches.

"It's not funny!" He practically whined, at loss of anything to say in defence.

Tai covered his mouth and bit down hard on his lip, trying to stop his laughter, "I know, I'm sorry," he forced out between giggles.

Matt frowned back at the brunette and raised one of his perfectly groomed eyebrows, expectant.

"Sorry, right, swimming," Tai cleared his throat, putting on a more professional voice. "Okay, well first, you need to stop trashing with your legs. It's more of a, um, a like, fluid motion. Here, watch me,"

Matt stared as Tai kicked off the wall and swam over to the other side of the pool. He moved smoothly, the water passing over his tanned, toned body slickly. His legs pushed out gently in almost circular motions through the water. He looked so graceful; Matt wanted to be able to swim just like him.

When Tai reached the opposite wall, he turned round, kicked off and swam back to Matt.

"See what I mean?" He pushed his fringe out of his eyes, panting lightly.

"Yeah,"

"Now you try, okay?" Tai gestured for Matt to swim again.

"Right," Matt said, staring over at the opposite wall. He was determined to manage to swim over properly this time, without embarrassing himself too much. Strangely enough, over the last day or so, he'd found himself enjoying his roommates company, particularly Tai's, even if he was quiet and off around them. He was just the sort of person who found it difficult to get used to new people, especially without any of his usual friends around.

Slowly, carefully, he pushed off the wall. He attempted to stay a float, trying to be 'fluid', just like Tai had told him. He tried kicking his legs slower, and in more circular motions, and he managed to get further than before, ever so slightly, but he still couldn't manage to stay afloat.

"Ugh, I suck," He scowled, slapping at the water in frustration, "See, this is the reason I hadn't bothered learning again until now,"

"Hey, it's okay. That was much better than before anyway," Tai thoughtfully chewed at his lip, "Alright, okay, come here," He grabbed at Matt, holding onto the side of his arm, "Okay, now kick off, and I'll hold you so you float, okay?"

Without a word, Matt kicked off, and Tai moved his hands so that they were resting under Matt's supple chest, his t-shirt the only thing between their wet skin.

"Good," Tai muttered, supporting the boy in the water, "Now swim,"

Matt kicked out against the water, just as he had done before.

"Okay that's good, but a little slower, and a little wider," Tai encouraged him, as Matt spread his legs a little _too_ wide, "No, look, like this," Tai moved one hand down to Matt's legs, balancing the boy's body on his other forearm. His fingers lightly traced over the wet, streamlined skin, manoeuvring and bending one leg in the right motions, "See?"

Matt nodded, feeling very aware of the other boy's fingers against his leg.

"Good," Tai repeated, bringing his hands back up to Matt's chest, "Now keep doing it with both legs. Yeah, good. Okay, now your arms, you're like, slapping at the water at the minute. Don't. Just reach out and pull, yeah?"

Matt reached out straight with both arms, pulling at the water.

"No, look, take it in turn with each arm, and bend it at the elbow,"

Matt did as he was told, scooping at the water with each arm in turn until Tai told him he was doing well.

"Okay, now I'm gonna hold you as you swim across to the other side of the pool, just do the legs and arms at the same time," Tai instructed, and as Matt pushed with his legs and pulled with his arms, Tai walked sideways across the pool. Slowly, they made their way across the width and as they reached the opposite end, Tai let go of Matt's body so that he could stand up.

"Good job," Tai patted Matt's arm lightly. The boys were just inches apart.

Matt looked down at the surface of the water. Despite how nice it had felt to have Tai's hands against his chest supporting him, he felt incredibly embarrassed.

"You okay?" Tai pried, after Matt said nothing.

"Yeah. I just feel like a fucking idiot," Matt mumbled, "Like a baby or something," The embarrassment and frustration were evident on his cheeks, which were now a rather tomato shade of red.

"Matt, calm down, you're doing well, okay?" Tai stroked the blonde's arm gently, soothingly, "Better than I thought at least,"

"Oh _that's_ comforting. It's just, having you support me, makes me feel… retarded or something. I dunno. I look stupid. I _feel_ stupid," spat Matt, sarcasm overly evident in the first sentence.

"So what? Who cares? You look better than most of us when we were learning,"

Matt shrugged, scowling down at the rippling water.

"Matt if you wanna stop we can. We can call it quits for the day if you like. It's up to you," Tai was still rubbing Matt's arm gently.

"You don't mind?" Matt looked up from the water, staring into Tai's eyes. The boys were pretty much the same height – though Tai was just an inch or so taller – so it felt natural and easy to look each other straight in the eye.

"Of course not," Tai whispered, staring back into Matt's crystalline orbs, now beautifully contrasted with the colour of the water. For a moment, it felt there was nothing but them, nothing else mattered. That was, until Davis broke the moment at least.

"Tai!" The mahogany haired boy called from the side of the pool, "Tai!"

Tai groaned slightly, shaking himself out of the moment he'd shared – or at least hoped he'd shared – with Matt.

"What?" He asked, turning around to face Davis.

"Just wondering how long you're going to be here. Ken and some of the other football guys wanted to go have a kick around,"

"Ergh. Not long. Me and Matt will just dry off and change and then I'll come up,"

"Alright then. We'll be in the Sports Block, okay?" Davis said, then dashed off.

Tai turned back to Matt, "Er, yeah, we'd better go get dressed and stuff,"

"Yeah, alright," Matt agreed, following Tai up the steps and out of the pool. From the side of which, they grabbed their dry clothes but headed back to their cabin in their damp swimwear. This time the silence between them was nonexistent as Matt felt so much more open and comfortable around Tai now. Tai rambled on about camp and soccer – occasionally pausing to ask Matt a question – and Matt smiled, listening intently. He still wasn't happy about spending the month there – especially after having to leave his band in the lurch, but truthfully, summer camp wasn't shaping up to be quite has bad as he'd first thought. He certainly enjoyed his roommates' company at least. Of course, that was something he wouldn't admit to, at least not yet

They were back in the cabin when Matt started to peel off his soaking wet t-shirt, something Tai had not been expecting him to do straight away. He couldn't help but stare at Matt's perfectly pale, wet, slim stomach was revealed. The soft skin glistened in the sunlight that burned in through the cabin window. Tai broke his trance as quickly as he could, reminding himself that he had a boyfriend back home who he loved, and in spite of that, Matt was probably straight.

"Well the wet look sure suits you," Tai joked, turning his attention to Matt's face as the blonde froze half way through pulling his t-shirt off. It was true though. Matt had the perfect complexion and hair to pull off looking good wet. His hair was silky and dripping into his face slightly, and the water caught on his eyelashes and lips made him look adorable. "You'll be driving the chicks round here crazy,"

"Uh, heh. Thanks I guess," Matt smiled before pulling the t-shirt right over his head at which point Tai turned around to avoid gawking any more. Due to both boys' actions, the brunette completely missed the blush that spread softly across Matt's cheeks.

"So, um, weren't you meant to be getting ready for soccer practice?" Matt recalled after pulling on a dry t-shirt and seeing that Tai was doing nothing but standing around.

"Oh yeah. Kinda forget," Tai laughed sheepishly, getting up to go through his clothes, "You wanna come watch? Maybe join in?"

"Um maybe. I dunno, soccer isn't really my thing. I've never played in school or anything,"

"Don't worry. I love it, but I don't play on the school team. Just give it a go," Tai encouraged.

"You don't? How come?" Matt questioned.

Tai let out a deep sigh, sort of wishing he hadn't brought it up, but knowing it would have to come out eventually if he planned on building up a friendship with Matt, "It's a long story. Maybe if you come along I'll tell you?" He flashed one of his winning smiles and a wink to cover up his moment of weakness.

"You like talking me into things I'm unsure of, don't you?" Matt rolled his eyes playfully, "Fine, I'll come along, but only to watch. I'm not playing,"

"Good boy," Tai grinned, then disappeared into the small toilet to change into shorts and an old t-shirt.

Five minutes later he emerged to find a fully dressed Matt running a brush through his damp blonde hair.

"Ready?" Tai beamed, raring to go.

"You're not gonna let me blow-dry first, are you?"

"Not a chance," Tai grabbed Matt by his arm, ready to drag him away.

"Wait, wait, wait," Matt tugged back from Tai's grip, ruffling through one of his drawers only to pull out a bottle of something Tai could only presume to be some sort of hair or body product. Matt raised it to his head, spraying it though his hair then put it back. He then picked up the hoody and guitar that were laid out on his bed.

"Okay, now I'm ready,"

"You and that bloody hair," Tai shook his head, somewhere between amused and amazed.

"Shut up. I can't help it that I grew up with a dad like mine,"

"What? Gay?" Tai scoffed.

"No!" Matt almost giggled, something Tai hadn't heard him do before, "Appearance obsessed,"

"Righteo then. Come on,"

-

For the next hour or so, Matt sat on the sidelines of the field outside the sports block as Tai and the other boys formed a small game and kicked the ball between each other. Matt held his guitar in his lap, occasionally strumming at it and plucking out tunes he knew his band would be playing at their gig that night.

Eventually, the soccer boys got bored and finished their game and Tai raced over to Matt, a grin set on his face.

"See? Wasn't so bad, was it?" Tai pulled Matt up off the ground.

"Was alright I guess. Still can't see the fun in a bunch of guys kicking a ball round for so long though," Matt remarked.

"It's a concept only the greatest of people get," Tai smirked.

"Alright guys?" Davis greeted as he ran up to them, "Me and Ken are gonna head down to the beach for a bit. You gonna come?"

"I'm in," Tai agreed, then turned to Matt, "You coming?"

"I'm going to go take a shower first. Get this smell of chlorine off me. I'll meet you down there though,"

"Alright, we'll see you in a bit then. Don't be too long!"

---

Once at the beach - and it had taken them long enough to get there due to messing around on the way, several stops and Tai deciding he wanted to go back for his phone - Tai, Davis and his new friend Ken found a spot that was fairly secluded and settled down in it and Davis introduced Ken and Tai properly. Ken was the same age as Davis – a year younger than Tai – and also doing soccer as his extra. He was staying in Chalet 4 – just two away from Tai and Davis.

"Anyway," Davis yawned, leaning back on the sand with his hands behind his head, "Tai, what's going on with you and Matt?"

"What d'you mean?"

"Well, he's hot, you're gay. Putting two and two together isn't hard. I dunno, he seems to get on with you better than the rest of us and you two looked pretty damn close in the pool this morning,"

"Careful Davis, you're sounding jealous," Tai teased, "And totally putting two and two together to make five. You know I'm just giving him swimming lessons,"

"Looked like more than that from where I was standing. You're telling me you're not attracted to him at all?"

"Well… of course I'm attracted to him. The boy's gorgeous. But I'm not going to do anything about it. I love Paul remember. I know you don't like him, but don't be getting any ideas about me and Matt, okay?" Tai's words served for as much as a reassurance for himself as they did a reminder to Davis.

"Hmph. I can't help that your boyfriend's an asshole," Davis turned to Ken, "See Ken, Paul is certainly not the world's best boyfriend and we all know Tai could do better. He-"

"Davis, give it a rest. Don't bitch about Paul in front of me. I don't know how many times we have to go through this. He's my boyfriend and I'm in love with him, so get over it!" Tai groaned, becoming obviously frustrated.

"Alright, okay. I'm sorry. Just… sorry," Davis mumbled.

"Okay, let's um, stay off that subject for now then," Ken decided, "So Tai, you're pretty awesome at soccer, you play on a school team or anything?"

"Not a good subject either," Davis muttered, "Let's just chill, catch the sun and stuff,"

"Yeah," Tai agreed. He and Ken joined Davis, lying back on the sand, closing their eyes and letting the sun warm them.

"Ah, I really missed this," Tai yawned into the almost silence that was only really broking by the waves rolling softly against the sand, "So peaceful and sunny and stuff,"

"Yeah," Davis agreed, "So calm,"

"What about you Ken?" Tai asked, turning to the boy on his left, "You been here before?"

"Nah. First year this year. I used to go to a soccer specialist camp, but it closed down,"

"Ah, cool. Thought I hadn't seen you round here before. Me and Davis have been coming here for years. I actually first ended up here after messing up my ankle at the soccer specialist camp. They chucked me in here for the last two weeks and I've loved it ever since,"

"Yeah, Davis mentioned something about that," Ken smiled lightly, staring up at the practically cloudless sky, "But I agree with you both. This is such a lovely place,"

"Sure is, but try telling Blondie that," Davis joked.

"Aw, leave him be Dave. I'm sure he has his reasons for nothing wanting to be here. The whole thing with his band and his dad and stuff,"

"Suppose so,"

"So is this that Matt we're talking about again?" Ken guessed.

"Yep,"

"So what's his story? I mean he looks rather well off,"

"He seems to be. We don't really know. He doesn't talk too much. We know he has a band, his father took his girlfriend away and put him in here and he has a damn fancy phone and iPod. Oh, and he can't swim, but you know that after yesterday's canoe trip," Davis shrugged, "Tai plans on getting him to open up more soon I think,"

"Does he now?" An amused voice came from behind the boys. They all sat up and spun around to see Matt hovering over them, his hair now perfectly back in style.

"Uh, hi, Matt," Tai laughed nervously, "Er, how was your shower?"

"It was good," Matt smirked slightly at the awkwardness of the three other boys.

"So, Davis, about that soccer match, huh?" Ken tried to ease the tension by changing the subject.

"What soccer match?" Davis frowned, not picking up on Ken's plan.

Matt chuckled slightly and squeezed into the space between Tai and Ken, "So, you're Ken, huh?" Matt shook the boy's hand, "You a friend of these guys?"

"Sorta. Well, I just met Davis this morning in the block, and Tai during soccer. Feel like I've known them forever already though,"

"Hah, tell me about it," Matt smiled, lying back on the ground which put the others back at ease as they did the same.

"So Blo- Matt, spoken to your dad since you got here?" Davis asked, nearly slipping up and calling Matt by the secret pet-name he'd given him.

"Nope. Phone don't work, remember? Not that he'd bother ringing even if it did,"

"Well you can always borrow mine, alright?" Tai reminded

"Yeah, as long as he isn't on the phone to dear Paulie," Davis commented, receiving a glare from Tai.

"Who is this Paul I keep hearing about then?" Matt questioned, intrigued, "Your best friend back home or something?"

Though Matt had now known the boys for just over three days, Tai had managed to avoid the subject of his sexuality. He liked Matt a lot, and wanted them to at least be friends, but he knew how hard it might be if his sexuality got in the way.

Not being one to lie, Tai muttered, "He's, err, he's my boyfriend,"

"Oh, _oh,_" Matt mouthed, clearly shocked.

"Err, Ken, wanna go, um, play in the sea?" Davis excused, feeling a rising tension.

"Definitely," Ken agreed as they dashed off.

"So you're like, gay?" Matt asked.

Tai nodded, timidly asking, "Does it bother you?"

"Not really. Well, no! It's just I didn't really expect it of you. Should have, though, given all of Davis' comments about Paul,"

"It really doesn't bother you?"

"No. Maybe it should. I dunno. But I have, erm, well one of my best mates back home thinks he might be. He's not sure though. But yeah, it really doesn't bother me. You like what you like, right?" Matt fumbled with the hem of his t-shirt.

Tai nodded again, "Thanks," He smiled, feeling incredibly relieved that it didn't bother Matt. At first he'd seemed like the sort of person it would.

"Anyway, what about this whole you not being on the soccer team thing? What's up with that?" Matt asked.

Tai looked across at the blonde and smiled. He really loved the way Matt was opening up more bit-by-bit. From sarcastic comments to one word answers to smiling and asking the questions himself, he certainly seemed to be becoming more comfortable around his new companions. Even in that morning he'd seemed increasingly happier to be around them. And he really was. Matt himself found it almost strange the way he was opening up around Tai. They were only on their fourth day of camp, and he hadn't expected himself to open up at all. Sure, he got on well with Davis, and Izzy was a breath of fresh air compared to the absurdity the other two could speak, but there was something different about Tai, something that made him feel both vulnerable and comfortable at the same time, something that made him want to know more about the brunette, and tell the brunette more about him.

"The soccer thing? Like I said, it's a long story, but um, basically, everyone on the team is a gay-bashing jock, and there's a team vote or something on new recruits. They wouldn't let me on," Tai sighed softly, looking down at the sand. His taste for men certainly hadn't given him an easy ride.

"So they wont let you in because of _that_? Assholes!" Matt growled, suddenly feeling sorry for Tai and almost protective over him.

"Oh, believe me, it's better than my old school," Tai commented.

Matt was ready to ask how when the two boys heard a shout and looked down the beach to see Davis on his back with Ken standing over him, hand at his stomach, laughing, clearly having pushed him over. The moment served to lesson the mood intensity as both Matt and Tai let out low laughs, Tai making a comment about how Davis probably did something to deserve it. It didn't last long however, as Matt turned back to the pervious subject at hand.

"So," He said, pressingly, "What happened at your old school?"

"Ergh. You really don't want to know. S'just people there were a _lot_ more homophobic and displayed in a much more, er, physical manner," Tai coughed slightly, awkwardly, once again trying to erase the memories.

"Shit. Sounds bad," Matt placed a comforting hand on Tai's bare knee, "Sorry I brought it up,"

"Ah, don't worry,"

"So this Paul... How long you been with him?" Matt changed the subject, trying his best to take Tai's mind off his past.

"Nearly nine months now," Tai smiled, "Well, sorta,"

"Woah, well done. You in school together then?"

"Yeah. I mean he's not in my usual group of friends, but when I moved there and people started to find out about me, he and his friends decided to look out for me. A few of them were already 'out' so to speak and yeah, guess they felt protective or something. They're a year older than me and pretty tough, so people thought twice about giving us stick. I dated one of his friends first though, but it didn't work out, and me and Paul were closer. Eventually we just ended up together,"

"They seem pretty cool then," Matt decided.

"Yeah, they are. Well some of my friends aren't too keen on them, particularly Davis, but they're really good guys,"

"No? Why not?"

"Oh it's silly," Tai rolled his eyes, "Paul and his friends are a little more, err, 'hardcore' than me and mine. They get wasted every weekend – and through the week – often on things much harder than alcohol, and some of them are _very_ promiscuous. Plus he broke up with me for a few weeks once and got with someone else. But that was like in the first two months of the relationship, and it's forgotten. Davis and Izzy and the others just think I can do better. But I'm happy with what I've got."

"As long as you love him…" Matt reasoned, "But you can't blame your mates for wanting to look out for you,"

"Nah, I know. Just wish they'd get on," Tai whispered, "Anyway, we need to go back up to the block soon, we're already late for lunch,"

- - -

Not long later, they headed back to the block just in time to have Kim serve them lunch along with a mini lecture on how they always needed to report to the block on time for lunch and dinner.

In the afternoon, they had another free and spent it on the beach again. Tai and Davis enjoyed messing around and kicking a soccer ball between them whilst Ken and Matt watched, making light conversation and enjoying the sun – or in Matt's case, slathering on the factor 50 sun block – his pale skin burnt easily and he liked his complexion just the colour it was. The boys enjoyed the afternoon so much it seemed to pass quickly, and before they knew it, it was evening, for which the Blue Group had been scheduled into the music block. Matt, of course, couldn't wait but the others were a little more apprehensive. The Music Block was new that year, and so they'd never had activities in there before and had no idea what to expect, and for boys like Izzy, Davis and Tai who had very little or no musical talent whatsoever, it didn't sound very fun at all.

In fact, it actually was. As long as they each attempted to play one instrument, they were allowed to do pretty much what they wanted, which for Tai and Davis meant sitting around and listening to everybody else. True to say, it was difficult to hear one instrument from the next as the three rooms the music block was made up of was a clash of different noises. A few people had stopped to listen to Matt play after he'd discovered they had an electric guitar that was exactly like his favourite back home. Izzy however, was experimenting with the keyboards, whilst Mimi had fallen in love with the drums, being overjoyed at the concept of being able to make lots of noise _and_ check her hair and makeup in the cymbals while she did so. Yolei was torn between watching her and Ken as he fiddled with a bass, something he'd picked up a few times at home.

All in all, the evening went fairly quickly, and Tai was once again stunned at Matt's musical ability, in spite of the fact he hadn't even heard him sing yet. On the way back to the Blue quarters, Matt, Tai and Izzy walked in a line with Davis and Ken just in front and Mimi and Yolei just behind.

"Tai!" Davis called behind him, turning around and grabbing the older boy's arm, "I have an idea!" He dragged Tai away from Matt and Izzy and out in front of Ken, leaving the abandoned three to fall in line together and wonder what on earth Davis was cooking up this time.

"Okay Tai, so neither Matt or Ken have been here before right?" Davis was whispering as quietly as he possibly could.

"Well done Davis,"

"Well, they haven't had _our_ tour of the place yet then? How about we give it them tonight?"

Tai's face broke out into a grin as he turned to his younger friend, "I completely forgot about that!" He laughed, "Why the hell not? It's still only half past eight. We can get it done before curfew at this rate!"

For the last two years, Tai and Davis had given new kids tours of the areas of the camp that either the leaders didn't want them to know about or that the leaders themselves didn't know about. Last summer it had gotten both boys into huge amounts of trouble after they'd started doing it officially, taking fairly large groups of kids out, often after curfew. Unfortunately, word got round to the leaders and it ended up losing them a lot of points for their group. But in their eyes there was no harm in just showing two new friends round this year, right? And so quarter of an hour later found the four boys in the trees not far from their block beginning the tour.

"Now this is just the beginning," Tai explained, gesturing towards the trees, "Where we meet up if we're sneaking out past curfew or something. Anyway, just follow us up here,"

Tai and Davis led Matt and Ken further into the trees, eventually coming out into a small clearing that would probably only just have been big enough to fit them all lying down. The grass on the ground was thick, if rather downtrodden in places. The trees almost formed a canopy above them.

"This is one of the most romantic places around camp, especially in the afternoon with the sun shining through the leaves. It's a great place to bring chicks – or dudes," Davis glanced at Tai with a grin, then turned his gaze back to Ken and Matt, "Or whatever floats your boat,"

"Yeah, seriously guys, it's lovely up here in the daytime," Tai grinned as they moved on.

Their next stop was the 'smoking spot' in some trees nearer the beach. It was passed through quickly as none of the four boys smoked. After that, Tai and Davis led the other two down on to the beach then across the sand, around a slight bend and into an area where the trees of the forest met the sand and formed a small semi circle around it, creating a secluded area.

"Another place to get frisky," Davis joked, before leading the others through the trees and onto a trodden down path. They made their way up the path, as it sloped up one of the mountains, eventually emerging onto the main road.

"And this," Tai smirked proudly, "Is how you sneak out - or sneak other people in. Well, there's no point in sneaking out really, except there's a payphone about 10 minutes down the road, which can be useful when you got no signal and you're only allowed to use to one in Camp to call your parents. But hell, it's easy to get people in. Last year, when I was dating Tim - Paul's mate I said about - a couple of them came down for two days. Set up a tent _way_ down the beach. No one else ever knew," the brunette chuckled.

Matt looked at Ken, arching one of his eyebrows as the latter boy shook his head gently. It seemed they mentally agreed on the _don't ask_ option.

"Um, that's about it now isn't it?" Davis double-checked.

"Yeah, since they got the new blocks," Tai agreed.

"So back to Cabins?"

---

By the time the boys got back to their cabins, it was completely dark. The moon was clear and bright in the sky as Matt lay back on his bed, gazing up at the ceiling, considering how much had changed during the days events.

"So, you coming round to Summer Camp yet?" Tai asked as he changed into a pair of blue baggy pyjama pants and a Camp Haven t-shirt.

"Could be worse I suppose," Matt commented and Tai knew that meant he was enjoying it more than he'd thought.

"That good, huh? Believe me, by the end, you won't want to leave," Tai promised.

"Well alright. So its lovely scenery and stuff," Matt sighed, "We don't get much like this back home,"

Tai stopped, realising he still didn't know where Matt was from, "No? Where's home?"

"Um, Bel-Air," Matt whispered, almost as if he were ashamed.

"Shit dude! You live in frickin' LA?" Davis interrupted, having been listening in, "In one of those big white houses?"

"It's white and red brick," Matt said quietly, looking down at his hands rather than the people he was talking to.

"How big?"

"Davis, I don't think he wanted the freakin' Spanish Inquisition," Tai silenced his friend, though he too was rather amazed at what Matt had said. He watched the blonde as he stood up and opened the curtains, gazing out of the window, the only light coming from the moon and stars… and the little yellow dancing lights in front of the glass.

"Holy… are those fireflies?" Matt asked, seemingly rather excited, having only read about them or seen them in movies before.

Tai chuckled, "Yeah, they're out here fairly often. You haven't seen them before?"

"No," Matt sighed again, then moved to the door, "I'm going out for a better look. Anyone coming?"

"I'll pass," Davis yawned, already snuggling down into his quilt.

"Me too," Izzy mumbled as he tapped away at his laptop.

"I'll come," Tai grabbed his phone from his bedside table, stuffing it into his pocket just in case Paul decided to ring and then bounced up behind Matt, following him out of the door. They walked around the small building, sitting side by side underneath the window, just beneath the fireflies. Matt gazed curiously up at them, watching intently as they danced and darted around and in and out of each other.

"Pretty, huh?" Tai smiled, drawing his knees into his chest.

"Mmmhmm," Matt murmured softly, eyes still following the glowing insects. Tai on the other hand, had his head turned slightly so he could see his blonde friend – as he presumed he could call him that now – and was wondering if maybe this would get him to open up more. Seemingly the contact at the swimming pool that morning had done wonders, presumably breaking some of the barriers between them.

"So… um…" He started, with no clear point in mind, until he remembered the conversation they'd left unfinished a few nights ago, "What did you mean the other night, about only taking your band as seriously as you're allowed to?"

Matt let his gaze wander briefly from the fireflies to look at Tai. The boy's faces were just inches apart, and having not been so close before, Matt looked over Tai's features, taking them all in – from his smooth olive complexion to his full lips, deciding though, that his hazy brown eyes were definitely his favourite part. Quickly, he turned his attention back to the question at hand, and his gaze back up at the fireflies, living so simply and free.

"Um, my dad hates my band basically. Says it will never get me anywhere,"

"What? Why not?"

"He's in the film business. Well, he's sort of an actor turned director/producer. He likes to do a bit of everything I guess. Just not music. I swear he's tone deaf or something. You may have heard of him though, Hero Ishida?"

"Oh. I actually have. Jesus Matt. Wow," Tai laughed nervously, once again amazed at Matt's life, unsure of how exactly to respond. He'd heard of Hero Ishida, definitely. It wasn't like he was some Hollywood big-shot, but he'd definitely seen his name on one or two posters and rolling credits. "So, err, he just doesn't support your band?"

"Not in the slightest. I'm guessing that had something to do with him sending me away this summer, other than not trusting me at home. He knew I had a bunch of local gigs lined up,"

"You really think he'd do that?"

Matt sighed, shrugging and fiddling with the sleeve of his hooded jacket, "I dunno, maybe thinking that's a bit too harsh. But he really wants me to get into acting or just, films in general but I don't want to. It's just not for me. He doesn't get that. Plus it would look good for him if he had the perfect son following in his footsteps,"

"That's lame, but you should just go for it with your band if that's what you really care about,"

"It is, and I am going for it. I'm hardly daddy's perfect son. He's practically given up on me. That sounds bad, I mean I know he cares and stuff. He was just wanting and expecting more from me,"

"I dunno man, I think you're pretty damn awesome the way you are,"

Matt smiled, taking the words to heart, "Thanks," In the darkness it was hard to see the blushes that graced each boy's cheeks.

A brief silence ensued before a brisk wind ruffled across the boys and Matt felt Tai shiver against him. He looked at the brunette and laughed.

"No wonder you're cold," he said, shaking his head at the other boy's outfit – Tai was still wearing the thin pyjama pants and t-shirt whereas Matt was yet to change for bed and so was wearing jeans, a long sleeved t-shirt underneath a black Misfits t-shirt and a hooded jacket.

"Shut up," Tai frowned rather indignantly, though (he) made it evident he was joking.

"You ought to go inside and get a jacket or something,"

"Nah, I'll be fine. I can't be bothered to go back in again anyway," Tai smirked

"Whatever. Borrow my hoody," Matt offered, though it sounded more of an instruction as he was already taking the top off.

"Don't be silly. You'll get cold then,"

"I have more layers on than you without it. Just put it on," Matt pushed the hoody onto Tai's lap then set about straightening out his hair where removing the jacket had messed it up a little.

Tai pulled the top on, breathing in its tantalisingly sweet scent. He straightened it out then cuddled up inside it, enjoying the warmth, before turning back to Matt.

"So what about your mom?"

"Huh? What d'ya mean?" Matt frowned, clearly taken aback by the question. Truth be told, he was taken aback by most of Tai's questions; no one ever really showed an interest in _him_, just who his father was, or when his next party or gig would be.

"Well you've said about your dad and his girlfriend and what he thinks of your band. What about your mom? What does she think?"

"Well, she doesn't really care - about the band I mean. She's not around enough to. She lives over the other side of Bel Air with my little brother TK, and we barely see them. Her and Teeks are always off filming and stuff. She's an actress. That's how her and dad met, working on the same film and all," Matt practically whispered, obviously deep in thought.

"Yeah? So what happened to them?"

"They split up when I was about 4. It wasn't working. They were _both_ having affairs,"

"Dude, I'm sorry,"

"Don't be. They're better off apart. The thing that sucks is me and TK. I haven't seen him since Christmas and we only live like 20 minutes drive from each other, if that," Everything Matt said, he said with emotion and honesty behind each word, along with trust - the trust he seemed to placing in Tai.

"That sucks. Do you make an effort?"

"Yeah, and he's a great kid, just a bit of… I dunno, the straight male equivalent to a diva?" Matt laughed through a frown, thinking over his words.

"Funny. That's kind of what I had you pinned down as," Tai joked, receiving a friendly nudge in the side from Matt.

"Shut up. I'm only diva-ish about my hair… I guess I gave you guys the wrong impression of me at first, huh?" Matt sighed.

"What? So you're not really a rich blonde asshole who's the 'straight male equivalent of a diva'?" Tai teased, using Matt's words against him.

"Rich and blonde? Yes. Asshole? I have my days, and I was on Saturday, probably Sunday and Monday. Sorry. I'm not usually. And diva? Sometimes. And no one ever said I'm necessarily straight,"

Tai's mouth dropped slightly in awe and confusion, but Matt changed the subject quickly.

"So what about you and your family?"

Tai closed his mouth and shook his head, trying to convince himself he'd misheard or misunderstood what Matt had said about his sexuality.

"Um, we're pretty normal, y'know - mum, dad and two kids - me and my sister Kari. Dad's a lawyer, mum's a teacher. There's not much else to it,"

"Awesome I guess. Do they uh, do they know about you and Paul?"

"Yeah, I think they pretty much knew since I did,"

"Do they care?" Matt asked, intrigued and glad of a chance for him to ask Tai the questions. He hated sounded nosey, but the brunette boy evoked a deeply curious streak in him.

"No, at first Dad was a bit apprehensive and Mom was upset cause it lessened her chance of having grandchildren but now they're fine. They even seem proud of me for it at times, particularly mum," Tai swelled, "And Kari, well, she's happy as long as everyone else is."

"That's really cool. See I think if I was ever gay and told my dad it'd be such a calamity and a blemish on his image. I mean, not like being gay even matters these days - especially somewhere like LA - but he'd just see it as something against him," Matt sighed.

At this point, Tai was more than tempted to ask if Matt even knew his own sexuality, but knew it really wasn't his place and that the blonde would probably get all defensive. Instead he jus muttered "sucks".

Matt yawned again, leaning against Tai slightly to prop himself up, "When did you know?" he questioned quietly.

"That I liked boys? Pfft," Tai thought deeply for a moment, "I dunno. When I first found out bisexual existed I guess. When I was a kid right, I thought there was only straight and gay, and I loved gaming right? Anyway, not many people know this, but I sort of had a crush on Lara Croft. Like a big one. Posters all over my room and stuff. But everywhere else I looked I didn't really like girls, and I had this weird thing about guys. Like you know when you're little and you're playing games, acting out movies and stuff? I always wanted to be the damsel in distress with the big strong hero come save me. I just thought it was just one of those weird things with me cause I liked Lara Croft who was a woman so I _couldn't _be gay - not that I ever really over thought it. But then when I was nearly 13, someone started talking to me about bisexuality - why? I don't know - and it got me thinking maybe I was. Anyway, long story short, Lara Croft is the first and last woman I like, except admiring some other famous women, so I just consider myself to be gay. I love guys," Tai finished his little speech with a small laugh, only to find that during it, Matt had fallen asleep with his head resting on Tai's shoulder. The latter boy sighed heavily.

"Matt?" he whispered, ensuring the blonde was in fact asleep, "Matt?"

When he received no reply, he sighed again, leaning back against the wall of the cabin, gazing up at the sky through the dancing fireflies. He felt overwhelmingly comfortable in Matt's hoody with the boy by his side and as he looked down at his sleeping companion he felt a light fluttering in his stomach.

They stayed like that for another ten minutes and Tai could feel his eyes drooping closed. He stifled a deep yawn, looking back down at Matt as he moved a strand of blonde hair out of his face. His eyelids were feeling extremely heavy and he was about to let them shut when loud, fuzzy music started playing from his pyjama pants. He let out a low groan, shuffling around and pulling out his phone from the pocket.

"Hello?" He answered, feeling Matt stir against him, clearly having woken up due to Tai's ring tone.

"Hey, Tai! It's Sora," The voice on the other end of the phone chirped.

Tai sighed, rather annoyed that the peace and comfort of the moment had been ruined. "Oh, hey Sora. Look, can I call you back in, like, 5 minutes?" he asked.

"Yeah, alright, sure," Sora said, then hung up.

Tai pressed the end call button then shoved the phone back in his pocket as Matt aroused properly and sat up straight, breaking all contact with Tai. Tai turned to the slightly shorter boy, asking him if he was okay.

"Yeah, yeah. Shit, I dropped off while you were talking. Sorry man," A blush rose up Matt's cheeks as he apologised, embarrassed to have fallen asleep on his new friend.

Tai chuckled good-heartedly, "Don't worry about it. Come on, you're knackered, better get to bed," Tai bounced up, helping Matt up after him. He supported him all the way back to the cabin, where Matt crashed down onto his bed.

"Right, I've gotta phone Sora back," Tai stated, pulling the phone back out of his pocket, "I'll be back in a minute, okay?"

Matt's response was a mere light grunt as Tai headed back out of the door. He quickly dialled Sora's number, letting the phone ring twice before she answered.

The phone call was brief, just a catch up because they hadn't spoken since he'd left for Camp and normally they saw each other every day. Sora was vague about any news she had from back home and Tai was equally - if not more so - vague on the new blonde roommate that Sora claimed Izzy had mentioned Tai had been spending time with in one of his emails. Though Sora would probably be one of the first people he'd turn to when he did, Tai had to to figure out how he felt about Matt - not that it should really have mattered anyway, not with Paul in the picture.

Once the conversation was over, Tai headed back inside. Davis was fast asleep - and probably had been since the boys had gone to look at fireflies - and Izzy was so engrossed in his laptop he probably didn't have a clue to what was going on around him. Matt was still crashed out on his fed. The covers left in a tangle right at the bottom. Tai tread carefully over to him, whispering his name to try and get his attention without waking the others, bit it seemed he was already aback asleep. Tai couldn't really blame him; Matt clearly needed time to get used to the customs of summer camp.

Almost begrudgingly, he took off the hoody Matt had leant him, placing it on the bed next to Matt, resisting the urge to sniff it one last time. The boy just smelt so darn good. Noticing the blonde shiver in his sleep, Tai leant down and pulled the covers up over him, tucking him in neatly in spite of the fact he was still fully dressed. He let his fingers trace up the boys neck and then run through his shoulder length hair as he did so. Lingering just the moment at the side of the musician's bed, he turned and walked to his own, curling up in it, bringing the covers in tight around himself. As of yet, he really didn't know what he felt for Matt, especially after the temperamental way in which the boy had been acting. But one thing was certain - he enjoyed being around him a lot, and felt guilty to Paul by just doing that.

* * *

Oh, and for taichis-girl208 and anyone else who was wondering, Tai and Matt are both 17. :)  
As always, reviews are love which inspire me to update sooner. Yes, yes I am bribing you.  
See y'all next chapter. 

_-- Even Gods Dream, 2007_


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Life's been hectic and not really in the good kind of way. Sorry for the lack of updates. I'll try my best to get back on top.

* * *

Chapter Four: _First Kisses_

Cold water rapidly hit Matt's naked body, feeling something like ice-cold pinpricks as he ran his soft wet hands through his even wetter hair. He clutched at the mass of blonde slightly before letting go and sighing deeply. To say he was annoyed would most likely be an understatement. Firstly, it was yet again ridiculously early in the morning and he was up and trying to wake himself up properly through no decision of his own. Secondly, he was freezing his skinny butt off, which led to the thirdly; he'd woken up after having a dream that needed him to take a nice cold shower before he did anything else with his day. Lastly, and probably most of all, he couldn't remember what the dream had entailed, other than the fact that he'd clearly found it fairly exciting and, oh, Tai had been there. Which would in fact make it the third dream he'd had involving his brunette roommate that week, and considering they'd only _really_ started getting along on Tuesday – which was the night he'd had the first dream – and it was now Friday, Matt found it rather disconcerting.

However, as the icy water calmed him and woke him up for the day ahead, he managed to push it to the back of his mind, just as he had with the two previous dreams. Besides, today of all days, he decided, he had much more important things to worry about, namely swimming.

Since his fairly tragic attempt at swimming with Tai on Tuesday morning, he'd spent time alone in the pool trying to teach himself. He'd ended up deciding that it was in fact Tai's presence that put him off so much and made him so embarrassed and frustrated. But alone, he could handle it much better. And so he'd spent whatever free time he'd had in the pool and, after several failed attempts, had managed to make it across the width of the pool without stepping down once. He hadn't yet managed to make a length, but he'd get down to it that afternoon, whilst the rest of his group were scheduled for fencing. He'd already talked to the group leaders about missing it. Then, in the evening, all groups were to attend the pool for a 'Friday Special', and that was when he'd do it. There was something deep set inside Matt that wanted to make Tai proud of him, and to show off to him, and at the Pool Party he'd do just that.

Peeling back the plastic shower curtain, he stepped out and grabbed the towel from the rail on the wall. He quickly dried himself off and pulled on the clothes he'd taken into the shower cubicle with him – a pair of flared black jeans and a red t-shirt. He threw the towel over his head, put the rest of his stuff in the small bag he'd brought with him then headed back down to their Cabin to sort out his hair.

"Wow, you're up early Matt," Tai commented drowsily from his bed as Matt walked in. Seemingly the other boys were only just waking up.

"Yeah, sheesh, it's only, what, half seven," Davis agreed through a yawn, flipping open his phone to see the time.

"I know. I couldn't sleep," Matt said. Well, it was half the truth at least.

He placed his bag on the bed and set about towel drying his hair before running a brush through it. He then added some mousse and set about styling the damp mess in the mirror on the wall between his and Tai's beds.

"No blow drying this morning?" Tai questioned, lazily observing the blonde.

"Nah, can't be bothered. At least I have my mousse," Matt grinned, almost shocking himself that he didn't care too much.

"By Jove!" Tai teased, "Guess our hair morals are rubbing off on you,"

"Maybe. Just as long as I don't end up with the sort of mess on my head that you claim as your hair," smirked Matt, purposely raising a carefully groomed eyebrow at the brunette bush on Tai's head, bed hair making it look even worse than usual.

Suddenly alert at the insult, Tai sat up. "That's low," he scowled, grabbing his pillow and flipping Matt across the back of his legs with it, causing Matt to jump and ruin the section of hair he was working on.

"And that was plain mean" Matt held his can of mousse threateningly in Tai's face, "Wanna try that again?" he added with a challenging grin.

"Maybe," Tai shrugged, lying back slightly, "You wouldn't squirt me anyway. Wouldn't wanna waste your precious mousse on someone with messy hair like mine, would ya?"

"That's probably true," Matt agreed as he finished off his hair and turned to walk around his bed and place the mousse back in the drawer. Turning his back on Tai, of course, was a big mistake as the boy took it as an opportunity to throw the pillow, sports skills coming in handy as it hit Matt squarely on the head.

Shocked for a moment, Matt blinked, then turned to Tai, an evil grin lighting his face.

"Now _that's_ low," he muttered, before grabbing the pillow, and walking over to Tai's bed with it, only to clout the brunette with it several times, ignoring his victim's cries of protest.

"Will you two stop it?" Izzy mumbled loudly from across the room, "It's too early for your raucous yelling,"

Matt stepped away from Tai sheepishly, and Tai stopped his yelling, looking at Izzy equally sheepishly.

"Sorry Iz," He grinned, then turned to Matt and poked out his tongue.

"S'alright," Said the redhead, then turned his attention to Matt, "What are you doing up and dressed so early?"

"Er, had trouble sleeping," He muttered, looking at the ground, then changed the subject, "Anyway, I'm hungry. Will you lot hurry up and get dressed?"

He then turned his attention to his bed, taking the bag off and putting the shower gel and other things inside of it away. He made his bed, lying on it as he fiddled with his iPod, placing it in the speakers. Loud music thumped out into the room, waking up the other boys properly as Matt mindlessly and quietly sung along.

-

Eventually the other boys got up and dressed and then had breakfast. The group spent the morning working on their extra activities. Matt and the rest of the music group spent it in the music block, for now just working on their own pieces. It gave Matt a chance to practise everything he wouldn't be able to go through with his band over the month. He'd managed to get through to them the night before, and it had been clear then that he'd need to keep up practising. They'd found a new lead singer/guitarist who would do for the month Matt was away, but Tom had assured Matt that he wasn't a touch as good as he was, and that they really missed him – and not just for his musical ability. After Matt had mentioned the tour Tai had given him – and the place where they could sneak people in and out – the band had promised they'd travel up one day and chill with him, bringing him anything else he needed. They'd said they'd probably come up that Sunday, as they didn't have any gigs to play or attend all weekend until Tuesday. That was two days away, and Matt couldn't wait. But until then, he had other things on his mind.

The morning went quicker than he'd expected, and he rushed back to the communal block to sign in with the group leaders and get lunch, which he ate just as quickly, then hurried out to the pool, rushing past Tai, Davis and Ken – who happened to only then be trudging back from a soccer game – on the way.

Once at the pool, he stripped down to his swimming shorts but left his t-shirt on. Despite having a figure some would die for, he felt much more comfortable that way. Gradually, he made his way down the steps and into the lukewarm water. He walked slowly around the shallows of the pool, getting accustomed to the feel of it before he pushed off and swam to the opposite wall, still remaining in the shallower ends. When he got there, he touched the wall and turned around, swimming back to the other side.

He did this three times before running out of breath, and then decided that, once he'd got his breath back, he'd try and swim a length. It couldn't be _that_ different, surely.

A few minutes later, his breathing had returned to normal, and he backed up against the shallow wall, before pushing off and just going for it.

It took him several attempts to swim a length without stopping, coughing or spluttering. But eventually he did it, and he was so proud he couldn't hide the grin on his face or the shout of 'Yes!' even though there was nobody else around. After that, he did it again and again, each time feeling more and more proud of himself.

Finally, he could say he could swim.

Alright, so he wasn't the most graceful or talented swimmer about, and he couldn't really swim in a straight line, but the bottom line was, he could swim again, even if he did look more like a drunk dog in the water rather than a streamlined dolphin. And at least it meant that when he threw house parties or pool parties back home, he could actually use the pool in his house.

He stayed in the water for another hour or so until Anne and Bill – the two Camp Leaders – and several other leaders piled in. Bill stopped at the side of the pool, grabbing Matt's attention.

"Hey, you're, um, Matt, right?" He asked, "The Ishida boy,"

"That's right," Matt looked up at the man who was crouched at the side of the pool.

"Good. Well, sorry, Matt, but we're gonna have to ask you to leave. We need to set up for the pool party tonight y'see?" Bill explained.

"Oh, right okay," Matt said, already on his way to the steps. He climbed out of the pool and grabbed his things from the side.

"Sorry again," Bill said, "We'll see you this evening,"

"See ya,"

--

Back at the Cabin, Matt was laying spread out on his bed with Queens of the Stone Age blasting out from his iPod. Without anything to do, he found that gradually, thoughts and musings of the dreams about his roommate were creeping into his head, and piece-by-piece he was trying to tear them apart to work out what on earth they meant.

Typically, though, he didn't have much time to do so, as it wasn't long before Tai, Davis and Izzy headed into the Cabin, nattering loudly. Knowing he had to push it to the back of his mind, Matt turned the music down slightly and rolled over to face them.

"Matt! What happened to you this afternoon?" Tai, as usual, was the first one to greet him.

"Oh, something came up, sorry," Matt waved his hand dismissively, trying his best to give an offhand, nonchalant, 'don't ask any more questions' aura.

"Right, okay…" Tai frowned, and seemingly Matt's 'aura' worked, as he asked no more questions, even though Matt's excuse didn't make any sense to him. Really, what was there to possibly 'come up' around summer camp?

'_Probably had to sort out his hair again,' _Tai decided, studying the blonde, _'Come to think of it, it is looking pretty damp, maybe he-' _His thoughts were interrupted, however, by Matt asking the others how their fencing had gone.

"Oh, it was great!" Davis answered, bouncing down on the end of his bed, sitting up to face Matt.

"Yeah?"

"Damn right. I totally whupped Tai's ass!" The younger boy grinned proudly.

"Oh really?" Matt couldn't help but smile as he looked from Davis to Tai – who in contrast to his younger companion was looking rather embarrassed and put out that Davis was _still_ bragging about it. If he'd told one person, he must have told the whole group by now.

"Really, really! Hah, you should have come just to see it, Matt!"

"I'm starting to wish I had," Matt laughed, another glance at Tai proving the brunette's face was souring with each comment he and Davis made.

"It was amazing," Davis continued, suddenly jumping up off his bed, "I was all…" He started prancing around the room, arm raised out and slashing about as if he was still fencing, though from the sounds he was making with it, Matt could have sworn the boy thought he was fighting with lightsabers rather than swords.

"And Tai was all… Well, not as amazing as me!" Davis stopped his motions with a wide grin aimed in Tai's direction – the brunette was now sitting on his bed, a sincerely put out look on his face, "Isn't that right, Tai?"

Tai just scowled at the other boy.

"Oh my god Tai, what has that boy been eating? Sugar and caffeine?" Matt was highly amused by Davis' presentation.

"Something like that, probably took loads of energy tablets before fencing just so he could beat me," Tai decided, lightening up a little at the concept that maybe Davis had 'cheated'.

Matt smiled, turning his attention to the redhead who was yet to contribute to the conversation, and was surveying it with an expression somewhere between disdain and amusement.

"What about you, Izzy?" The blond asked.

"It was interesting. And of course fun to see Tai's face when Davis beat him," The redhead replied as he got out his laptop, sitting back on his bed with it.

"Yeah alright, how about ending the 'let's gang up on Tai' time," said Tai, "I'm just having a bad day. Y'all know I could beat you at _any_ sport normally," He added with a grin.

"Sure, okay," Matt said dismissively, "So, the pool tonight, eh? What time are we meant to be up there for?"

Tai frowned slightly, looking at Matt almost inquisitively, "You sure you wanna go Matt? It's a _pool_ party after all. You know, people swimming and stuff?"

"Yeah I'm sure I want to go," Matt practically snapped at Tai's patronising tone.

"Sorry, I just thought yaknow, maybe you'd want to stay here or something. I mean, I'll stay too if you want," Tai suggested.

"No, we should go," Matt said forcefully, "I'll be fine. Besides, I've got a feeling it's going to be pretty fun,"

"You sure?"

"Very. So anyway, as I was saying, what time do we have to be there?"

"Anytime from half five, and it's," Tai glanced at his watch, "Yeah, half 4 now. So we've got like an hour to do nothing,"

Matt was about to reply when a shout from Izzy grabbed his – and the other two boys' – attention.

"Prodigious!"

"What is it, Iz?" Tai asked the boy who was still staring intently at his laptop. He clicked on something, then looked over the top of the screen to meet three pairs of inquisitive eyes. He grinned softly, before speaking.

"Well, this morning in the IT block, one of the other boys helped me install extra Internet software on one of the computers, and well, basically, we managed to link up a wireless connection. The connection itself is extremely tentative, but I've managed to link us up to some downloads, mainly films," The redhead explained, pride evident in his voice.

"So does that mean we get to watch movies tonight?" Tai grinned.

"If you want, but as of yet it's a very limited selection,"

"How limited?" Asked the brunette boy, scrambling over onto Izzy's bed to get a better look at the laptop screen.

"What's this first one… The Technicalities of-?" He frowned at the screen, tapping the first of the three files he could see.

"Oh, that's just an educational programme," Izzy said, knowing Tai wouldn't care either way.

"Okay… and The Blair Witch Project and Akira? Limited indeed, Izzy. Can you get more by tomorrow?"

"Hey! What's wrong with The Blair Witch Project?" Davis asked defensively.

"The fact that it's the film you make me watch every single time we fancy a horror, just cause you know you can't handle anything scarier," Tai shook his head at his younger friend, who in turn pouted, crossing his arms and said nothing.

That conversation soon sparked off a deeper one about films, which gradually spiralled into one of music.

Eventually, Tai looked at his watch again, and noted it was already twenty past five.

"Anyway guys," He interrupted Davis mid-sentence. "It's time to get ready for the pool. Come on, the ladies are waiting," He stood up and looked at the others, waiting for them to do the same, but not one of them moved. In fact, they were all looking at him with cocked eyebrows or confused expressions.

"'The ladies are waiting'?" Davis mimicked his older, gayer friend, "What ladies, Tai?"

"Yeah, and since when have you cared?" Matt sniggered slightly.

A light shade of pink rose on Tai's cheeks, along with a lopsided grin, "Shut up," He frowned, "It's just something I've always wanted to say,"

"Riiiight,"

"Besides, I mean, some of you guys want ladies, don't cha?" Tai defended himself as best he could.

"Maybe," Chorused the three voices, each with a different tone and enthusiasm.

Matt, surprised at Davis' fairly enthusiastic reply, turned to look at him, "You like girls, Davis? I thought you were gay," He recalled several of Davis' previous comments about male actors and musicians.

"Yeah I like girls," Davis said, rather indignantly.

"Davis just likes anything with a pulse," Tai grinned, teasing his best friend, "Girls, boys, girls dressed as boys, boys dressed as girls, animals, plants, _anything_,"

"Hey! That's harsh!" Davis blushed.

"Right, so you're not gay then," Matt confirmed as if he was setting it straight in his own mind.

"Nope. What was it Izzy said I am? Oh yeah, I'm potsexual apparently!" Davis grinned, showing off what he thought was his, er, knowledge.

Matt started giggling hard and Tai was practically doubled over in hysterics. Izzy was merely regarding the 16 year old with an amused frown.

"Nice one Dai!" Tai barked through his laughter.

"What? Whaaat?" Davis asked dejectedly, unaware of his mistake.

It took Tai a few minutes to recover before saying, "It's _pan_sexual, Davis. Unless you have a culinary fetish you haven't told us about?"

Davis's blush hardened until he was quite literally tomato coloured, at which point he muttered, "Pots, pans, what's the difference? Let's just get ready for the pool. After all 'the ladies are waiting'"

--

It was another half hour before the three boys finally arrived at the pool, after getting lost in conversation several more times. Matt looked around in awe when they got there, the pool area looked completely different now. There were several balloons tied to posts and walls and chairs, and along one of the low brick walls was a long table absolutely covered in all sorts of party food. In the pool itself were several water toys including blow up balls, foam boards and lilos. The whole area was swarming with people. There were girls in bikinis soaking up what was left of the evening sun at the side of the pool, boys competing with each other to see who could stay under water longest, people racing each other up and down the length of the pool, and people sitting at tables and eating. The atmosphere was amazing, and it didn't take long to rub off on the four newcomers.

"I'll race you to the food!" Tai yelped, as he ran off at such a pace Matt didn't even bother joining in as Davis ran after his best friend. He and Izzy merely wandered after them.

"Mmm, this is amazing," Tai commented through a mouthful of pasty as Matt and Izzy caught up with them. Both he and Davis already had full plates. "You having anything guys?"

"Not yet," Matt replied, "But why don't you bring your food over to by the pool? I noticed a few free loungers there,"

"Alright, okay," Tai agreed, following Matt as he led them to said seats.

Izzy, Tai and Davis sat down and looked up at Matt, waiting for him to do the same. At present he was just standing there, looking rather, well, nervous.

"Er, I'll be right back," He excused himself and dashed off.

"Weird," Davis mindlessly commented, before tucking back into his food.

"Yup," Tai agreed before doing the same.

"Izzy! Izzy!" Called a voice from behind the three boys. The redhead turned around to see who was calling him, gave a big wave, then excused himself from Davis and Tai's presence also, before racing over to the boys who'd been calling him.

Tai and Davis merely looked at each other, shrugged, and then turned back to their food.

It wasn't long before they themselves could hear their names being called however, and they simultaneously looked up from their plates.

Tai's jaw dropped slightly as he saw who had been calling them. There, in the water, at the side of the pool, was Matt, still clothed in his t-shirt and swimming shorts.

"Matt? What are you doing in there?" Tai asked.

Matt flicked some of his hair out of his eyes and looked up at Tai, smiling.

"Just watch," He said, before pushing away from the wall.

Tai did as he was told and stared in amazement as Matt swam a whole length of the pool, lithe body moving strongly in the water. At some point, he stood up to get a better view of the blonde's new skills. It was certainly one hell of an improvement, and Tai couldn't help but feel more than an inkling of excited pride, even if he'd only given the boy one lesson.

Finally, Matt swam back to the side, directly beneath Tai, and climbed out, a beaming smile lighting up his small face.

"Oh-my-god Matt!" Tai laughed, throwing his arms around the wet boy's body.

Matt, though happy Tai was as proud as he was, felt rather stunned by the other boy's reaction, and so it took him a few moments to process the hug and return the gesture. By which time, however, Tai was pulling away and going on about how proud he was. He didn't need to though; Matt could see it in his face, in those perfect eyes.

"Really Matt, I'm so proud, I could, like, kiss you!" Tai grinned, and then he did. He pressed his lips briefly against Matt's cheeks, then pulled away, grabbing the boy's hand and dragging him towards the steps of the pool. "Come on, I want to see if there's anything else you can do,"

Matt lagged behind his friend slightly, somewhat in a state of astonishment. Sure, he'd wanted a good reaction from Tai, but the one he'd received was rather different than what he'd been expecting. His free hand traced loosely over the skin on his cheek where Tai's lips had pressed. He would swear he could still feel their warmth.

--

An hour and a half later, the sun was beginning to set, and the noise of the pool party was less rambunctious, though the atmosphere was still an amazingly intense one.

After finally getting out of the pool, Tai and Matt had spotted Davis, Mimi, Yolei and Ken sitting at a table near the food spread. As they neared them, it was clear that everyone except Davis was in fits of laughter.

"What's going on over here?" Tai asked, already amused, pulling two extra chairs to the table for himself and Matt.

"We're playing I've Never," Mimi explained through her giggles, as Tai and Matt sat down side by side between her and Ken.

"Yeah, Davis basically just admitted to falling asleep on the toilet during school time," Yolei chuckled.

"Haha, oh yeah. Nice one Davis," Tai smirked, "Alright, let me and Matt in then,"

Mimi picked up the large bottle of coke from the middle of the table and poured two cups passing them to Matt and Tai.

"I know you know how to play, Tai," She said with a knowing glint in her honey eyes, "But do you, Matt?"

"Yeah, you drink when you have done it, right?"

"Mmmhmm," Mimi nodded precisely, "Alright, my go… Ummm… I've never had a bad hair day and cared about it," She emphasised the third from last word and then took a small sip from her drink, watching who else did as well, and giggling when she saw that the only other person who drank – except herself and Yolei – was Matt.

"My go now!" Tai said happily. His smile however, faded slightly as he tried to think of something. He looked around the table carefully and then smiled, as if deciding something extremely witty, "I've never…" He left the words hanging in the air for a few moments, "Kissed a member of the same sex," And then he drunk quickly, placing his cup back on the table as he looked to see who else was. Mimi, of course - he knew all about her experimenting with Sora. Yolei wasn't. Davis obviously was, and he wasn't really that surprised to see Ken taking a small sip also. What did surprise him, however, was the boy next to him. He turned to Matt, expecting to see him simply staring into his drink, but-

'_OHMYGOD! He's drinking!'_ Tai's eyes went wide and yet again his mouth opened slightly, and he had to take another sip of his drink to try and hide it.

Matt was _actually drinking_! Alright, so he looked uneasy about it, and his cheeks were slightly pink, but all the same, he was drinking! Maybe he wasn't as straight as Tai first thought. The brunette looked at his new friend again, and noticed the blonde was watching him. Sharp blue eyes met soft brown as they studied each other somewhat cautiously.

There was a fairly awkward silence between the group of friends as they all looked at each other with different expressions. It seemed like aeons before Davis finally spoke up.

"So Matt! Your go now!" The mahogany hair boy chirped, breaking the awkwardness.

"Okay… um…." Matt thought for a moment, and a lack of anything better to say, claimed, "I've never been drunk before," And carelessly he took a sip, as did Tai and Mimi. The younger three remained drinkless, but Davis had a smirk on his face as he looked at Tai.

"Alright, Ken's go!" Tai nodded before Davis could mention anything about what a terrible drunk he was.

"Um, alright, I've, er, never felt, emotionally hurt," Ken murmured, tucking a strand of dark hair behind his ear. He drank, and watched as everyone at the table did the same. Seemingly it's hard to be a teenager and not suffer some sort of emotional damage.

Davis didn't need anyone to tell him it was his go, he spoke up easily with a tone of amusement, "Alright, I've never enjoyed watching cartoons, in like the last two or three years,"

Again, everyone drank, some more hastily than others, and then everyone turned to face Yolei.

"I've never been in love," She said with an expression somewhere between a smile and a sigh. And then she drank. Tai did the same, as did Ken and Mimi. Matt and Davis on the other hand, merely watched the others.

"Alright, my go again!" Mimi smiled, "Um, I've never had my body modified. That's tattoos and piercings Dai," She added at the boy's bewildered expression. Naturally, she drank, having her ears pierced several times, and so did Yolei, having had her ears done too. Davis and Tai weren't surprised at that but what did surprise them slightly, was when Matt drank.

"Really Matt? What have you got done?" Davis asked, seeing no visibly obvious piercings.

"Nu-uh, this is I've Never, not Truth," The blonde said indignantly, then shivered slightly, the evening chill getting to his wet body, "Tai? Your go,"

"Ok, um, I've never cheated on a partner," Tai said, not taking a drink, but watching knowingly as Mimi and Davis did, and then Matt. Tai eyed the blonde boy, unsure of what to think of his response, maybe he'd try and find out more later, about everything. He noticed the blond shiver again though, which broke his thought train.

"You alright, Matt? You look freezing," He asked.

"Yeah, I am. Actually, do you guys mind if I go back to the Cabin?"

"Course not, in fact, why don't we all go back and finish the game back there?" Tai suggested, not missing a chance for more privacy.

The others agreed, and in no time they were all sitting in a circle on the floor of the boys' Cabin.

"Are we starting up I've Never again then?" Yolei asked, but Tai shook his head.

"_I _have a better idea," He grinned and the others looked at him questioningly, "Spin the Bottle!"

Various responses met his ears, but he was already rifling through his drawer to find an old bottle of Coca Cola. He placed it on the floor between them and spun. The group quietened down and waited in anticipation to see who would be the bottle's first victim. It landed on Davis and Tai grinned at him.

"Alright Dai, truth or dare?" He asked, somewhat ominously.

Davis looked at his best friend, as if trying to weigh up which option would be the least dangerous.

"Truth," He decided finally, and Tai grinned again.

"Okay, who exactly was it that found you asleep on the toilet in school?"

Davis glared at Tai. The older boy already knew the answer, but that wouldn't stop him embarrassing him in front of the three people in the room who didn't know… yet.

Davis mumbled something rather inaudible and Tai's grin widened once more.

"What was that Davis? I didn't quite hear you,"

"I _said_ you and Warner," Davis repeated through extremely gritted teeth, face reddened in embarrassment and anger at his friend.

Tai turned to the others in the room, "Warner's the Janitor in school. I went to the toilet during class and there he was hitting the door with his broom, telling me it had been locked for ages and no one was responding to his shouts," Tai explained, sending the others into fits of giggles, "He could see Dai's feet and was worried someone had died in there, so I had to stand on the lid of the toilet in the next stall and chuck a roll of toilet paper at his head," Amused tears clouded his eyes as he told the story.

"Alright Tai!" Davis shouted silencing the others, grabbing the bottle and spinning it. It landed on Yolei, "Alright, truth or dare?"

"Dare," She answered, deciding she'd rather do some crazy dare than be succumbed to the embarrassment Davis just had been.

Davis sighed, wanting to save his best dares for the other boys, "Ok then, I dare you to- um- kiss the next person the bottle lands on," He said, lazily spinning the bottle again. To everyone's surprise it landed on Mimi.

"Oh," Yolei mouthed.

"You okay?" Mimi asked her friend, "Ignore Davis, you don't have to,"

"No, it's fine," Yolei smiled, then captured Mimi's lips in a brief, yet talented kiss.

"Okay, so now I get to spin, right?" The purple-haired girl asked after pulling away from her friend. Davis nodded and Yolei spun. It landed on Tai who couldn't help but feel relieved that it had been Yolei spinning, not Davis.

"Hmm, truth," Tai said, before she had even asked him.

"Okay. Um… How many people have you kissed – like properly kissed – in your whole life? And who?" Yolei asked, unable to think of anything more interesting. Next to her Davis sighed.

"Wasted question, damn it," He muttered, dying to see his best friend feeling embarrassed as he had.

"Five," Tai said simply, holding up as many fingers to emphasise the word, "Paul – obviously, Tim – the guy I was dating before Paul, Davis," He pointed at his friend, "Sora in a game of Spin the Bottle, and this guy Allan,"

"To Tai every kiss has to be something special," Davis explained, groaning, "He won't just kiss for the hell of it. Even in dares it has to be someone he's comfortable with or whatever. He's strange like that y'see,"

"Nothing wrong with that," Matt attempted defending his friend's principles, finding he strangely respected them, but the brunet boy was already spinning the bottle, unfortunately landing on Matt himself.

"Alright then Matty. Truth or dare?"

"Truth," Matt wanted to avoid any chance of getting some awful dare.

"Alright," Tai sat in thought for a moment, there were three particular things he wanted to ask Matt about – namely three of the things he'd drunk to in I'd Never – and he didn't know which to go for first. Finally deciding, he asked, "So when have you kissed a member of the same sex?"

"Umm… well I've kissed two boys, if that's what you mean… My best mate Tom and some, er, random guy at some party once," Matt whispered, realising how the latter collided with Tai's principles that Davis had just spoken of.

"So do you like boys?" Yolei asked somewhat enthusiastically.

"One question a go, Yolei," Tai reminded the girl, jumping to Matt's rescue. Watching him, it was easy to tell that the whole conversation was making him a bit hot under the collar, so to speak.

Several truth/dares later – which included Davis daring Tai to drink some 'clean' toilet water and Ken daring Davis to go outside and shout all the lyrics to an Eminem song at the top of his voice – the friends were still at it. Mimi had just spun the bottle, and it landed on Matt. He requested a truth, and, intrigued, she asked him about the body modification he'd drunk for earlier.

Tai watched as the boy pushed some of his blonde hair behind his right ear revealing a skull shaped stud in the top cartilage that hadn't been noticeable until that point.

"Well, first I had this done," Matt began, then pointed to a tiny circular, barely visible scar on his nose, "Then I had my nose done, but ended up taking it out 'cause it got really annoying. And I have a star tattoo on the back of my shoulder as well,"

"Oooh, can we see?" Mimi asked excited.

"Maybe another time," Matt smiled, then spun the bottle, which landed on Davis.

"Dare," Davis grinned.

"I dare you to make a prank phone call," Matt challenged.

"You're on," Davis accepted, taking out his phone, "Who to?"

Matt thought for a moment, scrolling through his own phonebook, "Oh, here you go," he read out the number to Davis who typed it in his phone, "Her name's Alex Monk. Choose the prank yourself. Just make sure you put it on loudspeaker"

"Alex Monk, right," Davis pressed the call button, then put his phone on loudspeaker. It rang several times before the girl picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hello, is this Miss Monk?" Davis asked in a strange posh accent that sounded overly English.

"Yes,"

"Ah, Miss Monk. Wonderful to catch you, it is Doctor Francis here, we spoke a while ago about surgery,"

"I don't rememb-"

"Well, your brain transplant has arrived, and we have two available at present. Each smarter than your current, as requested. One is that of a woodmouse, the other of a crow,"

"Excuse me, who is this?"

"I told you, Miss Monk, this is Doctor Francis of the brain surgery department. Would you still like your brain transplant?"

"I never requested a fucking brain transplant!"

"Oh boy, I remember you saying your brain wasn't working to your standards, but now I see what you mean! You have forgotten our meeting!"

And the line went dead.

Davis grinned across the circle, where Matt was creased in laughter – an almost rare sight – and the others were all suppressing giggles.

"Who was she, Matt?" Tai questioned.

Matt bit his lip and tried to straighten out his face, "This girl in my school I dated for like a week. Stupid as anything and even more stuck up,"

"Sounded it too," Davis agreed, "Alright, my go again," He spun the bottle.

Tai sighed as it landed on him, who knew what he was in for this time?

"Truth or dare?" Davis asked, a manic grin on his face.

"Dare,"

Davis grinned, "Alright, I dare you to kiss the next person this lands on, _properly_,"

Tai glared at him, and everyone in the room stared between the two.

"Don't try and use Paul as an excuse. I know about your deal, if it's part of a dare game – and as long as it doesn't go past making out – you're excused and it's not cheating. That's what happened with Sora, isn't it?"

Tai glared harder, then sighed, settling back, "Fine. As long as it's someone I'm comfy with,"

Matt inhaled sharply as the bottle spun, hoping to high heavens it wouldn't land on him, for reasons he refused to let his mind venture into.

But much to his disappointment – and somewhat excitement – it did.

"Wahey, Matt!" Davis laughed, and Tai could have sworn Davis fixed it to land on the blonde. He turned to the left to face his friend, as their eyes met again.

"Okay?" Tai checked.

"Mmmhmm," Matt lied. His heart was pounding in his chest and his stomach had dropped. As Tai leant towards him, he closed his eyes and leant into his friend. Cautiously, their lips met, rubbing against each other softly. Gradually, Tai's lips parted and he let his tongue enter Matt's mouth. Their tongues moved against each other's softly, hesitantly. Shaking slightly, Matt brought his hand up to sit behind Tai's neck.

It wasn't a long kiss, but it was intense, and by the time Tai pulled away, both boys were red, partially from lack of breath, partially from shyness.

Matt turned uncomfortably back to face the circle, where the other four were still staring at the two boys in awe. Apparently it had been as intense looking as it had felt.

Trying to shake the silence, Tai spun the bottle again and when it landed on Ken and Ken requested a dare, he grinned.

"Well I had been saving this one for Davis, but you'll do. I dare you to get all of the food out of the kitchen cupboards in the Block and hide it. I don't care where, just hide it,"

Ken thought carefully for a moment, before agreeing to it. The whole group was ready to get up and go with him, when Tai stopped them.

"No. Let's have just one person go with him to make sure he does it. Otherwise it'll look too weird,"

"I- I'll go," Matt offered, jumping at the chance to get out of the room and away from the awkwardness he could still feel between himself and Tai.

"Alright then," Tai shrugged, "Hurry up,"

--

"All done?" Davis asked as Ken and Matt walked back into the Cabin twenty minutes later.

"Yup," Matt sat down on Tai's bed as it was the nearest to the door and lay back.

"Yeah, but Mimi and Yolei, we'd better get back to our own Cabins now. The others are coming back and Kim said her and the others want everyone in their own Cabins when they come check on us," Ken sighed.

"Aw, what?" Yolei groaned in protest.

"Hm, fine. I guess I need an early night anyway, I'm totally losing out on my beauty sleep!" Mimi shrugged, standing up.

"Wait wait wait!" Tai frowned before they could leave. They turned to face him expectantly, "Where's all the food?"

"Most of it's hidden behind sofas, and some is in Joe's bed," Ken grinned wickedly, before leaving.

--

Saturday morning saw the Blue Group having a lecture from their group leaders about the hidden food and how they didn't care who the culprits were for now, but if it happened again, they would care and said culprits would be found and dealt with fairly severely. In the afternoon, everyone in the group had to attend a survival skills session as they were heading out camping for the week on Monday morning. All the while, Matt was puzzling over him and Tai. After the previous night, he felt as though things should have changed between them, he didn't know how, he just felt as though they should have, and for some reason, they hadn't.

During the evening, Davis and Tai begged Izzy to let them watch a movie on his laptop, and he agreed, but having not had a chance to download any new ones, much to Tai's disapproval, they ended up watching The Blair Witch Project.

On Sunday, the contests were on again. In the morning, Tai, Davis and Ken had a match against the White Group and Matt had a play off against a guitarist from the Red Group. Before that had even begun though, in fact, whilst the boys were still asleep, Tai's phone went off waking them all up.

"'Ello?" He answered groggily.

"Hi, is Matt around?" The voice at the other end of the phone asked.

"Er yeah. Matt, it's for you," Tai groaned, throwing the phone onto the other boy's bed.

"Hello?" Matt said warily into the phone.

"Hey Matt, it's Tom,"

"Oh, hey!"

"You alright man?"

"Uh huh, why are you ringing so early?"

"Er, we haven't slept yet,"

"Typical," Matt rolled his eyes.

"Well, we were wondering if it's still okay if we travel up and see you today, I mean, we're sort of already on our way and we can't stay for ages, but we still wanna come,"

"Um, er, yeah, sure! Definitely,"

"Awesome. So how do we get there?"

"Hang on, talk to Tai again," Matt passed the phone back to Tai for him to give directions.

--

That afternoon, after the boy's had finished their contests, Matt dragged Tai and Davis to the area of the woods where they'd shown him how to get in and out a few days ago, and much to his happiness, there sat his four best friends.

Tai regarded the newcomers warily as Matt introduced them. They were fairly intimidating looking to say the least, although Tai couldn't really say anything considering the way his boyfriend and their friends dressed. The one Matt introduced as Jake The Drummer, in fact sort of reminded Tai of Paul; he had similar long spiked up hair and wore heavy eyeliner. Another of them, Brian, Tai caught his name as, was extremely lanky and had long, un-styled brown hair. Then there was Micky – or Mikael – the bassist who looked like some sort of Greek God with his tanned skin and blonde hair. The one who caught Tai's attention most however, was Tom, and not just because since they'd started the introductions he'd had his arm around Matt – no, Tom was _extremely_ attractive. He had hair similarly styled to Matt's, though it was slightly shorter, jet black, and had more of a side fringe. His face was practically perfect – high cheekbones, full lips and deep-set eyes lined lightly in black.

_'No wonder Matt was happy to make out with him' _Tai stared almost jealously, though he knew that personally, he'd rather Matt any day.

Tai and Davis merely stood in silence, watching Matt and his friends as they shared conversation, and scowled in some sort of intrigue as Tom passed Matt a bag saying something along the lines of "I'm sure this will make your stay more interesting at some point,"

Matt peeked in the bag and grinned at his friends, agreeing with Tom's statement.

The four boys stayed for two hours, in which time Matt managed to catch up on all the latest news, parties and gigs. Their gigs were going smoothly, though not as amazing as they would be if Matt had been there, and allegedly they'd had several complaints of the lack of parties at Matt's house. They'd wanted to bring the stand-in singer, Richie, along to meet Matt, but he'd made other arrangements.

Over the two hours the boys had separated, basically Davis and Tai were sitting together several metres from Matt and his band. Every so often, Tai would watch them or train in on their conversation, and he knew it was silly – if not, absolutely ridiculous – but he felt jealous of the way Matt seemed to fit in with his friends, the way they managed to make him lighten up and open up. He seemed so comfortable with them, at least much more than Tai thought he felt with him.

Eventually – and in Tai's eyes, not a moment too soon – the band had to leave. Matt walked his friends to their car, which was just a few metres down the road from the way in, and Tai and Davis merely stood at the side of the road where the opening was.

"God, it was great to see you guys," Matt sighed, giving Tom a tight hug, "I'll see you in a few weeks, alright? I'll ring you as soon as I'm back, I promise,"

"You'd better man," Brian patted Matt on the back.

"You know what? Why don't you just come with us?" Tom suggested, "I mean, your father doesn't have to know, right? And I'm sure one of us can pretend to be him and ring up this place and say there was an emergency. You can stay at mine for three weeks if you have to. Come on man, go back and get your stuff. We'll wait,"

Matt thought for a moment, shifting his weight from foot to foot, "Guys, you have no idea how tempting that idea is. But I dunno… it seems risky,"

"Nah, we can pull it off!"

"Yeah, but…" Matt sighed, looking back over his shoulder at Tai and Davis, who currently seemed to be in the middle of another of their childish arguments, "I think I'm gonna stay. I guess it's not shaping up to be all that bad… and… I dunno, but I promise I'll call when I'm back, okay?"

Almost hurt, his band nodded, "See ya," they muttered in turn, getting into Brian's car.

"We'll call you after Tuesday's gig," Tom promised through the open window, just before the car drove off.

Matt walked back to Tai and Davis, feeling considerably empty now that his friends had left.

"You okay Matt?" Tai sensed it immediately.

Matt merely nodded, and suddenly Tai felt stupid for feeling jealous of Matt's friends. They were his _friends_ after all, and Matt had been distressed enough to have to leave them to go to camp the first time, let alone watch them drive off again.

"Only a few more weeks now anyway," Tai rubbed Matt's back comfortingly.

"I know," Matt shrugged.

"You should have gone with them or something. Didn't they offer?"

"Nah. Wasn't enough room in the car or something I guess. They had equipment with them," Matt lied, not really wanting to discuss that the main reason he'd wanted to stay was, well, Tai.

* * *

_-- Even Gods Dream, 2007_


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Oh.My.God. Yeah, I'm a terrible person. I'm so sorry this has taken forever to get up. Life is insane. But my A levels are over, so I'm officially free for a few months. Anyway I shan't make excuses, just know that life was hectic and now it's not. I hope the next few chapters make up for it.  
Dedication: It's sort of an anti-dedication if that makes any sense. To my ex-girlfriend and anyone else who's been standing in my way. Screw you basically.  
Disclaimer: We all know I don't own Digimon, and neither do I own the Lumberjack Song.

* * *

Chapter Five

Since the start of Camp, Matt had suffered his fair share of rude awakenings, but so far this was the rudest yet.

"Eep! Guys, wake up! Wake up!" Davis practically yelped as he jumped across the cabin. He climbed onto Tai's bed, smacking him across the head with a pillow, and from there – before Tai had a chance to retaliate, he bounced across onto Matt's bed, bouncing up and down until the blonde sat up, giving Davis the hardest evils he could muster at such an early hour, at which point the younger boy leaped across the room to wake Izzy.

"Davis?" Tai groaned, "Shut up,"

"Then _wake_ up," Davis grinned, spinning on his heel to face Tai.

It was first thing Monday morning and the blue group were preparing to go outdoor camping for a week. Davis, being his usual excitable self, was up, dressed and raring to go.

"Jesus Dai, you're like a four year old on Christmas morning," Matt yawned, "What's the big deal about camping out anyway?"

"Davis just gets excited over everything. Believe me, in a few hours he'll be whining about the walk there," Tai muttered, mirroring Matt's yawn.

Davis, choosing to ignore Tai's comment, turned to face Matt.

"Come on Matty, up and dressed," The mahogany-haired teen grinned, bounding back over to Matt. He grabbed the blonde's arm and yanked him out of his bed, steadying the blonde at the waist as he stumbled. Both boys remained unaware of the disdained scowl they received from Tai at the gesture.

"Daaaavis-" Matt started.

"I'm sure Matt can get up on his own. Can't you?" Tai asked pointedly, swivelling around in his bed so that he was facing them, legs hanging over the side.

"So? Would have taken him longer on his own," Davis chirped, "Now hurry up and get dressed. I'ma go wake up Ken!"

"Have fun," Matt muttered, watching in disbelief as Davis literally skipped out of the chalet. "Guess we'd better get dressed then," He added, turning to Tai and Izzy.

"Mmhmm," The other boys murmured in sleepy, subdued agreement.

"Right, I'll have the bathroom first, seeing as I'm already up." Matt picked up the clothes he'd set aside the previous night.

Within half an hour, the blue group were all in the Block having breakfast and getting ready to leave for the near two hour trek to the campsite where they'd be spending the next week.

"Right can everyone listen please?" Alex called, silencing the group. "We need to sort out tents and everything so if you all settle down into groups, Kim, Joe and I will be coming around to work everything out. Make sure you're sitting with who you want to tent with,"

"Well that's obvious," Tai muttered, then with a grin added "And we already are. Hey, let's try and get one of those eight-person tents!"

Davis was about to agree when Izzy chipped in. "Tai, I'm afraid to inform you that the chances of that happening are ridiculously small in our favour. There are two eight-person tents and most people want one. They're starting at the front of the room and we're at the back. I don't think we're going to get one," The redhead stated, "Which is a good thing really, do you have any idea how cramped those things are?"

"Way to step on my parade Iz," Tai scowled jovially.

"No worries," Izzy grinned.

"'_Step on my parade_'? Is that even a saying? Does it even make sense?" Davis asked, and was met with a series of shrugs.

"Ah well." Ken shook his head. "So if there's no eight tent whose sharing with who, or need I ask?" He added the last section carefully, glancing between Davis and Tai.

"Well we'll share," Tai grinned knowingly at Davis, patting him on the back.

"Oh god," Matt muttered at Ken, rolling his eyes as he wondered what on earth the troublesome twosome had planned.

"Yeah and Eric and I will share," Izzy said, signalling the freckled boy next to him who he'd met in the computer room.

"Guess it's me and you then, Matt," Ken grinned.

"Mhm," Matt smiled, sighing slightly as he glanced dejectedly at Tai. It wasn't that he didn't like Ken, no, he thought the younger soccer player was great, but he'd much rather have shared with Tai.

"But we'll pitch tents next to each other's right?" Ken asked, glancing briefly at Davis.

"Too right," Tai grinned, meeting Matt's bright blue eyes.

"Of course," Davis smiled simultaneously, "We'll try and get a four anyway,"

Matt smiled tenuously back at Tai, before shifting uncomfortably and turning his stare to his lap.

It wasn't long before Kim approached the group to sort out their tents. She took one look at the six boys before crossing her arms across her clipboard and raising an eyebrow.

"So whose sharing with you lot then?" she questioned, somewhat suspiciously.

"Well me and Davi-"

"Nuh-uh, no way, not happening," she stated. "I'm not having you two sharing a tent. Not after your escapades last year." She frowned, though the corner of her mouth was twitching in an attempt to conceal her amused smile.

"Aw what?! Come on Kim. We'll behave, I swear!" Tai whined, something he was more often than not rather good at, just seemingly not on this occasion.

"Don't make promises you can't keep Tai. Why not share with Izzy or Matt?" she suggested.

"Well Matt's sharing with Ken and Izzy's with Eric,"

"Well me and Ken can share man, so why don't you share with Blondie?" Davis suggested

"Matt. The name's Matt," the blonde boy frowned.

"Sorry,"

"But yeah, Tai, we can share,"

"Fine," the brunette sighed, not noticing the way Matt flinched at his tone, "So it's me and Matt, Ken and Dai, Izzy and Eric. Unless you want to give us an eight or four person tent?" he added hopefully.

"All gone, sorry boys," Kim shook her head, jotting down their arrangements on her clipboard. "Right, the good news is the tents have been left at the site so you don't have to carry them. Bad news is it may well rain this week, so have you all packed waterproofs?"

"You're joking," Matt scowled, looking at his neatly packed bag, which was unsurprisingly devoid of waterproof garments.

"Not at all. Have you got any?"

Tai, Davis, Eric, Izzy and Ken all nodded, whilst Matt sat there looking blank.

"I didn't even bring waterproofs. I don't even _own_ waterproofs. Unless a faux leather jacket counts. It keeps the rain off I guess,"

"Er, no, Matt. Don't worry, I'm sure there are spares up there. Just make sure you've got some sort of jacket, just in case,"

"Sure,"

"Good. You boys all okay with this now?"

"Yep"

"Right. Five minutes or so and we'll be leaving, ok? Make sure you're ready," Kim said, then turned and left.

"So this could be fun," Davis beamed at Ken.

"Totally," Ken smirked back.

As the two slightly younger boys went off into their separate conversation, Matt caught Tai's eyes but glanced away and fiddled with the hem of his shirt.

"Do you mind sharing with me?" He asked bluntly yet quietly before forcing himself to stare defiantly back at Tai.

Taken aback by the question, it took Tai a few seconds to answer.

"No! Of course not you big dummy." He half frowned, half smiled, giving Matt a playful punch to the upper arm. "Why would I mind?"

Smile breaking out, Matt replied, "Dunno, you just seemed to,"

"Nah I don't. Unless you mind sharing with me?"  
"Yeah, yeah I do actually." Sarcasm danced in Matt's voice. "I somehow don't fancy sleeping through your snoring for the next week,"

"Hey!" Tai objected.

"But no worries, I'm sure I can shut you up with a pillow to the head," Matt threatened.

"Oh?"

"Mhmm,"

"Oh, you're so on!"

"Bring it," Matt smirked, but regretted it the minute Tai grabbed one of the cushions from the sofa they were sitting on. He raised it threateningly above Matt, grinning manically before proceeding to clout the blonde boy about the head with it.

"Hey, no fair!" Matt squealed in protest, backing into the corner of the sofa.

"Aww, poor Matty," Tai laughed after finishing Matt's beating. "No one ever said anything about being fair,"

"Sucks to be you then," Matt retaliated, not even giving Tai a chance to see what was happening as he grabbed the nearest cushion and attacked Tai with it.

Their shouts and squeals were shortly silenced by Davis interrupting them as he pulled both cushions from their frantic grasps.

"Ladies, let's save the pillow fights for underwear-clad nighttimes shall we?" His face was an image of mock disappointment as he shook his head.

"Yeah right Dai," Tai frowned, grabbing the cushion back from his friend and preparing to hit him with it. He was stopped, however, by the group leaders silencing the group and informing them it was time to leave.

-x-x-

More than an hour later, they were still trekking to the campsite over a well-trodden path that ran through fields, between trees and bridged over many small streams. The sun burned down harshly on the group who were mostly silent due to the heat. Matt shifted his bag on his shoulders before wiping away the myriad sweat beads on his forehead.

"Davis, remind me again why you were so excited to do this." He scowled at the mahogany haired boy who struggled alongside him.

"I couldn't say myself right now," Davis mumbled, taking a sip from his bottle of water.

"There are showers on the campsite right?" Matt double-checked. "If there aren't I may kill someone."

Putting on an irritating posh voice, Davis replied, "I regret to inform you Matthew, that…" He left the sentence hanging for a moment, "there are indeed showers on the campsite. But there's no hot water,"

"Right now I only need cold water," Matt breathed a sigh of relief. "But don't call me Matthew."

"What? Why not?" asked Davis, looking fairly put out.

"Because it's not my name," Matt stated, as if everyone should already have known.

"Yes it is," Davis frowned, "Matt, short for Matthew,"

"No," Matt stated patronisingly, "Matt short for Yamato,"

"Yamato? What kind of name is that?"

"I believe it's Japanese," Izzy chipped in.

"Yeah, my mom's mom was Japanese. Guess she kinda liked the culture. My brother's name is too,"

"Oh yeah? What is it?"

"TK short for Takeru,"

"Very nice," Izzy smiled.

"Wait a minute! Guys, I know this bit! We're like ten minutes from the campsite!" Davis shouted, suddenly gaining a burst of energy and speeding up.

"Finally, you'd better be right y'know,"

And right he was, less than half an hour later, the group were at the campsite, had all been registered and were settled down for lunch. Matt gazed cautiously around the campsite; so far it just looked like a field nestled between mountains with some picnic benches and two buildings at one end- as Tai had explained, the bigger one was for 'leaders beds, first aid and stuff' and the other contained the toilets and the showers. He figured it would look more impressive once the tents had been set up.

It wasn't long before they'd finished their lunch and been given their tents with written instructions on how to put them up. Each tent had been given a specific section to be set up in so that a semi-circle was formed opposite the two buildings.

"So, wait, this bit goes through here, right?" Matt glanced from the pole in his right hand, to the instructions in his left, to the tent material on the floor, then back to Tai.

"No-no, come here," Tai smirked, grabbing the pole from Matt, "Right, hold up the tent for me,"

Matt looked at the tent, confused, then picked it up, facing Tai with it.

"No, grab the other bit, toward the end," Tai instructed.

Matt attempted to do so as Tai continued to smirk at his failing.

Eventually, after much of a struggle, they managed to get the tent up. They were just bickering over which way they were going to sleep when Davis burst in.

"You two still arguing over that semi-naked pillow fight?"

"Shut up Dai," Tai snapped. "You actually got your tent up then?"

"Yup. Me and Ken were dab hands at it, unlike you and Matt,"

"Hey, I've never camped before. I don't have a clue what I'm doing," Matt defended.

"Spoilt little rich kid that you are," Davis commented.

Matt was about to retaliate when he was interrupted by the sudden noise of music.

"Er, dude, I think there's someone singing in your bag," Tai scowled at the rucksack in question.

"Oh shit! That's my ringtone! Of all the places to get signal…" Matt sighed as he dug through his bag to find his phone.

"Hello?" He answered.

"Yamato, it's your father," Hero Ishida's voice sounded immediately.

"Oh. Hi."

"How are you Matt? You've answered none of my calls,"

"Yeah, there's no signal onsite,"

"You're offsite now? God, Matt, I can't leave you for a-"

"No, we're camping,"

"Oh, I see,"

"Mhm. But what did you want?"

"I need to talk to you about something,"

"Can it wait? I'm sorting out my tent,"

"Okay, I'll call you in a few hours, or maybe tomorrow,"

"Fine, if I've got battery left,"

"Bye Matt, enjoy yourself,"

"Bye." Rolling his eyes, Matt hung up and flung the phone across the tent.

"Let me guess," Tai commented having been listening to every word of Matt's side of the conversation, "Your dad?"

"Mhmm." Matt nodded.

"What did he want?" Davis asked.

"Dunno. Said he needed to talk. Guess I'll find out tonight,"

"Righto. Well anyway, I actually came here for a reason. Mimi and Yolei got a four-person tent with their roommates so considering we've got nothing to do for the next hour or so we were gonna go hang out in there. You coming?"

"Why the hell not?" Tai grinned, scrambling out of the tent. "Come on Matt," he shouted back, "We can finish this later."

"Alright then." Matt crawled out after him.

They wandered past the two tents that separated them from Mimi's large tent.

"Oh, hey boys," Yolei smiled as she wandered out of the tent that was separated into three "rooms" – one large social area and two sleeping areas, one on either side of the main room.

"Yo Yolei," Davis winked, "Ken inside?"

"Mhmm, I'm just going to the toilet. Be back in a minute,"

"See ya," Tai muttered as he ducked into the tent.

Along with Ken, there were three girls inside the tent – Mimi and her other roommates, Sophie and Jane.

"Hey girlies!" Davis greeted, bouncing down in a space between Sophie and Ken.

"Hey guys," Mimi smiled as Tai sat down next to her and Matt settled next to her. "Tai, I heard you and Davis aren't allowed to share this year. Unlucky,"

"Yeah," Tai nodded.

"But you're sharing with Matt, that'll be cool. And I take it these two are sharing," Mimi signalled to Davis and Ken

"Yup," Tai rolled his eyes, watching his two younger friends and wondering if they'd get up to any of the sort of mischief he and Davis did.

-x-

"Yamato," Tai whispered into the silence.

It was the first night of camp, everyone was settled in their tents and the campsite was pitch black and pretty much silent.

"Hm?" Matt rolled over, startled, unaware that Tai had taken in any of the morning's conversation about his name.

"Yamato," the brunette repeated, "It's really different, really interesting. So, so…"

"So…?" Matt urged when Tai failed to complete his sentence.

"So beautiful," he whispered, even quieter than before.

Another silence ensued – neither boy sure of what to say and both blushing in the darkness – before eventually Matt spoke.

"Thank you," he murmured.

"Anytime," Tai smirked, "Listen, once Joe's come in to check on us, I have something I want to show you,"

"That sounds more than ominous. What exactly is it?"  
"I'll show you when we get there,"

"Wait a minute, this doesn't involve more walking, does it?"

"A little, just make sure you have a torch and jacket with you,"

"Oh God, what am I getting myself in for?" Matt sighed.

-x-

"Seriously Tai, are you sure you know where we're going?" Matt groaned half an hour later.

"Yes,"

"You'd better, cause I'm not sure about you but being out in a forest I don't know in the dark with just a torch and a temperamental phone does not make for good safety. In fact it reminds me of a certain movie we were watching the other night," Matt shuddered as he tried to follow Tai as closely as possible.

"Don't tell me you were scared of The Blair Witch?" Tai scoffed.

"No. Well not until I was pretty much in the setting of it at least,"

"Matt it was just a movie. Stay close to me and you'll be fine, I promise,"

"Fine," Matt muttered, "But if I die or get eaten or mauled or turned into a wax model or _anything_ like that, I swear I'm holding you very much responsible,"

"Great," Tai laughed. "Calm down, we'll be fine,"

"Better be,"

Tai was just opening his mouth to attempt more comforting words when there was a loud snap and a hurried rustle from one of the nearby bushes. Matt jumped about a foot in the air. His heart battered inside his chest. His breath caught in his throat. Even Tai looked a little startled but he shook it off as he felt Matt draw closer to him.

"What the _fucking hell_ was _that_?!" Matt whispered huskily, grabbing onto Tai's arm.

"I dunno. A squirrel? A wolf? A bear?" Tai shrugged, voice at his normal tone and pitch, unlike Matt's. "Nothing too scary anyway,"

"There are wolves and bears out here?" Matt hissed, eyes wide, "Nothing too scary? Are you fucking crazy?!"

"Probably," Tai ran his flashlight over the area in question, "Nah, I don't think there are bears out here. I've never seen one anyway,"

"Tai that's not fucking comforting," Matt moaned, drawing even closer to Tai.

"Look, Matt, there's nothing there. It probably really was just a squirrel," Tai turned Matt around to see the area he was pointing at.

"That proves nothing Tai. Seriously, can we just go back now?"

"Aww, is little Matty chicken?" Tai teased, knowing it would irritate him into staying.

"No! I'm just… cold," Matt scowled defiantly.

"There's really no point in going back now, we're nearly there," Tai promised, giving Matt's arm a comforting squeeze, "If you're cold you can borrow my jacket,"

"Meh, I'll be fine," he sighed.

Another ten minutes passed with Matt all but clinging to Tai and Tai refusing to tell him where they were going. After a brief two minutes of silence, Tai stopped in his tracks, let out a low chuckle and sighed.

"What? What is it?" asked Matt.

"Um… so I kind of have some bad news,"

"Oh no. No, no, no," Matt muttered, knowing what was coming.

"I think we're a bit lost," Tai frowned as he looked around, chewing his lip lightly.

"You're taking the piss," Matt scowled, voice flat.

"Not exactly," Tai admitted.

"Ah, shit Tai! What are we meant to do now?"

"Er, wait 'til sunrise?" Tai suggested sheepishly, "I'll know where we're going then,"

"You said you knew where we were going before and look at us now," Matt growled.

"Well I can try and get us back to camp I guess, but it could take a while,"

"No. No way. What's Davis's number? Or Ken's? Mimi? Kim? Anyone? I am not trusting _you_ to get us anywhere. We're staying right here until someone comes for us," Matt fumbled in his jeans pocket for his phone then pushed it at Tai. "Phone Davis. Now."

"Alright, alright. Just chill out, okay Matt?" Tai took the phone from Matt then punched in Davis's number. He raised it to his ear for a few seconds before sighing and hanging up.

"It's turned off," he stated, rolling his eyes, "Dai doesn't normally bring his phone up here. No point once the battery dies,"

"Shit. You're kidding,"

"Nope,"

"Well try someone else,"

"I don't know anyone else's number by heart,"

"Argh. This just isn't happening. It can't,"

"Matt, calm down. Look, come sunrise I'll know where we are and how to get us back,"

"Sunrise? Dude that's fucking hours away! I'll freeze by then! If I don't get killed first that is,"

"Matt, you're being a drama queen, like I said, just chill," Tai put a steadying hand on the blonde's back. "Take a deep breath and just-"

"Don't touch me, Tai," Matt pulled away from his friend's touch.

"Fine, whatever." Tai rolled his eyes, moving away from Matt and sitting at the base of a bulky tree. He tugged off the large zip-up jacket he was wearing and threw it at Matt. "There. Now don't complain about being cold,"

Matt looked down at the jacket that had fallen at his feet. Stubborn streak getting the best of him, he refused to pick it up and paced straight past it. Said pacing continued for quite a while, until he managed to calm down slightly. He glanced at Tai who was still leant against the tree trunk, eyes shut, seemingly asleep. The brunette shivered slightly, reminding Matt that he too was rather cold. Begrudgingly, he leant down and picked up the jacket, walking over to Tai.

He nudged the other boy over with his foot, whispering for him to budge up, which Tai did though still half asleep. Then Matt settled in the space next to Tai and threw the jacket over both of their laps as though a blanket. Snuggling into his friend for warmth, it wasn't long before Matt was also more than half asleep.

-x-

"See Ken, what did I tell you?" Davis whispered, amusement evident in his quiet tone.

"They look so peaceful, sort of hate to disturb them," Ken muttered.

The two sixteen year olds were stood in the middle of a dark forest, overlooking two of their older friends huddled in a lump at the bottom of a tree.

"Yep, well," Davis snorted before giving Tai a passably light kick to the shin.

"Ow, what the-" Tai yelped, suddenly alert.

"Mornin' sunshine," Davis smirked, flashing his light in Tai's face.

Blinking and raising his elbow toward the light, Tai stood up and helped Matt up with him.

"Woah, what's going on?" Matt asked, completely dazed.

"Yeah, what are you guys doing here?"

"Saving your asses by the looks of things. Why are you sleeping up here without any blankets or anything?"

"Tai got us lost," Matt grunted.

"Oh did he now?" Davis scoffed, "Hah, I knew it. And you were looking for that view, right?"

Tai nodded.

"Wonderful. You realise it's just over that ridge, yeah?"

Tai let out a half-laugh, half-groan, mentally kicking himself.

"Tai, you're an idiot," Matt grumbled, then turned and followed Davis and Ken through some trees and over a ridge.

"Oh my god," Ken and Matt mouthed simultaneously as the four boys pushed past several trees that opened onto what Tai and Davis called the view.

Although it was fairly difficult to make out in the dark, they were looking down on what seemed to be a small and very lush valley. On the opposite bank, a waterfall cascaded down into a river that ran through the centre of the valley. The light from the moon and the stars reflected off the water magically.

"Guys, look." Davis pointed at the opposite bank. "I think the sun's about to rise,"

Sure enough the first cracks of light were evident over the ridge.

"Guess we'd better be heading back to camp then," Matt sighed.

"No way, let's watch the sunrise!" Tai decided, sitting down next to Matt and tugging him down alongside him.

"Let's!" Davis and Ken followed suit, sitting down next to the other two.

The four boys watched in silence as the sun gradually rose, casting soft morning rays over the valley, revealing all of the colour, the lush green shrubbery, the brightness of the flowers. The waterfall was a beautiful clear blue colour (Tai couldn't help but compare it to the blue of Matt's eyes) and it cast sparkling white foam as it crashed into the water. Matt was sure that at one point he saw a family of deer moving between the bushes.

By the time the sun was half visible, they decided they'd better head back to camp before they were missed. They got back just on time, as everyone else was just waking up ready for breakfast. They had a busy day ahead of them between a ball games session, survival shelter building and fishing.

After an evening of fairly unsuccessful fishing, they headed back to camp for tea and were told they'd be able to separate into groups later for campfire cooking. Upon hearing the news, Tai and Davis started rambling about s'mores, until discovering Matt didn't even know what they were.

"Serious? You've never had s'mores before? Oh, dude, you just haven't lived! Tell him Tai!"

"Like having an orgasm in your mouth," Tai nodded around his toast.

"That good huh?" Matt smirked, "So what's in them?"

"Biscuits, marshmallow and chocolate. Layered and melted up,"

"Doesn't sound _that_ amazing,"

"Nope but just wait until you try one,"

"Especially if you add peanut butter," Tai grinned, receiving rolled eyes from Mimi and Izzy.

"Seriously? Peanut butter? Tai that sounds gross!" Matt shook his head, mouth open in disgust.

"Don't knock it 'til you try it,"

Rolling his eyes, Matt took one last bite of his dinner. _Roll on s'mores._

-x-

"Okay, okay, I admit it," Matt moaned through a mouthful of s'more, "Absolutely beautiful,"

Matt, Tai and their friends were sat in a circle around a campfire, and Matt had just tried his first s'more.

"See, what did I tell you? Now try one with a little peanut butter," Tai grinned.

His comment was ignored however, as Matt's ringtone went off.

Tai reached for the ringing phone, glancing at it before passing it to Matt.

"It's your Dad," he said as Matt took it from him.

"Oh. Great," Matt groaned before he answered, swallowing his last mouthful of s'more, "Hi dad. What'd ya want?"

Tai watched as Matt turned his head away slightly, spacing himself from the noise of the group.

"Well I'm with a few friends dad but it doesn't matter," He said down the phone, glancing at Tai and rolling his eyes, "Well it's not like they can hear anyway,"

Not taking his eyes off Matt, Tai noticed as after a brief silence in which he presumed Hero Ishida was speaking, Matt's crystalline eyes went wide with shock just before his mouth dropped open and he seemed to be struggling for words. Eventually he managed to make his mouth work.

"You're fucking kidding me," He all but yelled, getting up and storming off as he proceeded to shout at his father.

"Ah, happy families," Davis muttered, having been listening in as well.

"Think he's alright? What's going on?" Ken asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine kid," Tai sighed, still staring in the direction Matt had stormed off in.

It wasn't long before the blonde stalked back again, now off the phone.

"You alright Matt? Your dad and everyone okay?" Tai asked, genuinely concerned.

"Yeah, great, he's just fucking great," Matt spat.

The others looked up at him silently, all unsure whether or not to ask what had happened.

Matt sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Look guys, I sorta want to be alone right now. I'm going to bed," he said before stalking back to his tent.

Tai was about to go after him when Mimi grabbed his arm.

"He said he wanted to be alone, and I think he meant it Tai,"

"But-"

"You don't have to go. It's not like he's like your boyfriend or anything." Mimi guided Tai back to his seat, her words stinging him more than she'd intended. "I'm sure he'll be just fine."

Tai sighed but willingly sat down.

"Yeah as much as he'd like him to be," Davis not so quietly smirked at Ken.

"Oh my god! Just leave it out Davis!" Tai snapped.

"Sorry," Davis said, hanging his head.

"No, what does he mean?" Yolei pressed, but was silenced with a glare from Tai.

The group fell into silence as they watched Tai sigh and eventually as he began to speak again.

"Look guys," he sighed, "I mean- oh, look, do you think it's possible to be in love with more than one person at once?"

"Woah there, what?" Davis stared, "Tai I know you're crushing on the boy but LOVE?!"

"Hang on, I think this is something we need to talk about in private," Mimi decided, standing up and pulling Tai with her. "Davis? Izzy?" She signalled for the other two to follow them back into her tent, away from the prying ears and foolish tongues of everyone else.

Once they were all comfortably sat on the floor of her and Yolei's section, Davis prompted Tai to start again.

"Oh guys I don't know," he sighed, pulling at his hair, "It's not like I'm saying I am in love with him. It just, feels like I'm on my way, y'know? Like I'm falling in love,"

"Yeah, but Tai, what about Paul?"

"Exactly! I don't even know! Things are just weird. He's being all… flat and stuff on the phone, like he's not even bothered. And I'm not missing him half as much as I should be! I love him, yeah, and I want to be with him, I don't want to lose him ever, and god knows I _really_ don't want to betray his trust and cheat on him or anything, just, God, I can't help how I feel about Matt! And it's pretty stupid isn't it? I mean I've barely known him two weeks, how is that even possible? Is it even possible to be in love with two people at once? It's just, so much more than a crush,"

"To be fair, Tai, I don't think how long you've known each other even matters half the time when it comes to love, especially when you've been with each other practically all day every day. It's different then," Mimi explained with a reassuring nod from Izzy.

"And as for two individuals at once? I'd say that it's perfectly possible taking into account you claim you're only in the process of falling for Matt," Izzy pointed out.

"Yeah. I just feel so confused," Tai scowled.

"You don't need to. You seem to have made your decision already: Paul. As much as I hate to say it, don't go throwing away nine months of hard work for someone you've only just met and lives in a completely different state to you when you don't even know if he feels the same. It's just not worth it." Mimi rubbed Tai's arm gently.

"I know. It's that simple. I know. It just doesn't feel it when my mind's tangled up in Matt,"

"Is it easier if one of us switches tents with you?" Davis suggested.

"No, that'd just be worse,"

"You sure?"

Tai nodded.

"Good. So are we done with your problem? Personally I just want to get back to my s'mores," Davis grinned self-centredly. Tai was just glad to have talked the Matt problem out and push it aside.

-x-

Roughly an hour later, everyone was headed back to their tents for the night. Ever so cautiously, Tai made his way into his and Matt's with the intention of talking to Matt to make sure he was okay before they fell asleep. However, Matt, it would seem, had other intentions.

"Matt?" Tai whispered as he crawled past the boy who was all swaddled up in his sleeping bag. He fumbled for the torch and switched it on.

"Matt!" He said slightly louder. "Guess you're asleep then," Tai frowned when he received no answer. He quickly scrambled around, pulling on his pyjamas and getting into his own sleeping bag before lying down next to Matt. He watched as his friend deeply breathed in and out, a look of deep discontent contorting his features even as he slept. His friends' words ran over in his mind as he gradually fell asleep facing the beautiful blonde boy.

-x-

The next morning Matt refused to get up with the others and stayed in the tent most of the morning whilst the rest of the Blue Group were participating in Eco Studies. At lunchtime he eventually emerged from the tent in as foul of a mood as he'd gone to bed in. Tai spent most of the afternoon watching Matt storm around, huffing at everything that got in his way and snapping at the people who huffed back.

It was only that evening, when the group leaders took them bat watching in a forest clearing, did Matt seem to calm down and draw closer to his friends. Tai blamed it on being in the forest again, but he wasn't complaining when Matt shuffled closer to him on the walk to the clearing, saying he was just a bit cold. Neither did he complain when Matt sat next to him during the bat watching and edged ever closer, fingers brushing against fingers. On the brief walk back to the campsite, their fingers were laced, though Matt was still saying very little.

"Right so what do you lot wanna do now?" Davis asked the others once they were back at the campsite.

"Dunno man," shrugged Tai.

"Hey, Iz, you still got battery on your laptop?"

"Yes,"  
"Movie then guys?" Ken suggested.

"I'm down with that," Davis agreed.

"What about you Matt?" Tai questioned.

"I'd rather pass on this one. I'm going back to the tent sorry guys. You can stay, Tai,"

"Nah, I'll join you in a minute, okay?"

The brunette gave the blonde's hand a light squeeze before letting go and watching him walk away.

"So what the hell was just going on with you two?" Davis asked the minute Matt was out of earshot.

"What do you mean?"

"Well one minute he's storming around not talking to anyone and the next minute you two are being all close and holding hands. I thought we'd decided you were staying with Paul, much to our displeasure." The latter earned Davis a nudge to the ribs from Mimi.

"Oh, I know. It was just one of those things that just happened. I think he needed the comfort,"

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, now I'm going to bed. I've had enough of your questioning. See you in the morning,"

"Night. Make sure you don't take that comforting Matt too far tonight,"

Not even turning around to face his friends, Tai flipped his middle finger at Davis before reaching the tent and clambering in.

"You alright Matt?" He asked the blonde – who was sitting up in his sleeping bag staring at his phone – as soon as he entered the torch-lit tent.

"Yeah, my phone battery's about to die so I'm sending Tom one last text."

"Righto. So what was up with you last night?" Tai took the straight to the point approach as he squeezed in next to Matt, pulling his own sleeping bag over his knees.

"Erh, long story," Matt muttered as he finished off his text and hit send.

"Matty? Look around you, we've got all the time in the world," Tai grinned, leaning back with his arms folded behind his head to emphasise his point.

"Do you really want to know?"

"Would I ask otherwise?"

"Meh. Basically my dad is going to propose to his girlfriend. He was calling last night to get my blessing but he's going ahead with it whether he gets it or not,"

"And I'm guessing from your attitude, he's not getting it?"

"No, no way. He spends too much time and money on her already, and she's a total bitch, completely fake, totally out for herself,"

"And you're jealous?"

"No!" Matt protested. "Well, a bit, but…"

"You're entitled to, right?"

"I guess. They're just not right for each other. Like, she makes him happy – for now – but they're just not right for each other. She's just not good for him and he can't see that even though everyone else can. Just- Jesus!" Matt ground his teeth, anger from the previous night flashing back.

"Hey now, come on, calm down." Tai sat up and scooted closer to Matt, raising a comforting hand to his back. Matt turned into the touch, resting shoulder on shoulder. When he spoke again, his voice was cracked, no matter how he tried to cover it.

"Just… I know he'll have even less time for me if she says yes. Which she will 'cause it means more fame and access to his money. I just miss him. I miss my friends and I miss my dog and I miss my car and… everything."

"Well there's not long left now. By the end of this week we'll be halfway through,"

"That's not the point though. I don't want to go home if things are like that, besides-" Matt lowered his voice as he admitted- "It's not this place. I don't mind it,"

"Woah, what was that?" Tai smirked, teasing his friend, "Is Matty actually enjoying Summer Camp?"

Hey, I never said that!" A smile spread across Matt's face, "I can't help if the company isn't all the bad though, hm?"

"Of course. Hell, I don't blame you. I am pretty darn amazing." Tai puffed out his chest.

"Oh totally," Matt giggled, a rare sight indeed. So rare, in fact, that he clamped a hand over his mouth, ashamed of how girly it had made him sound.

"Alright there Matt-ilda?" Tai laughed.

"Shut up,"

"No, seriously, you okay now?" Tai's tone doubled back to concerned as he bent his head to look the blond boy directly in the eye.

"I guess,"

"Look, right, you can't change what's happened or what's going to happen. You just have to find what positive there is in it and move on like it doesn't matter, even if it sucks right now. And you need to be there for your father, in case it _does_ go wrong, and really, he should know you're there for him." Matt listened intently as Tai imparted his rather rare words of wisdom.

"You think?"

"Definitely."

Matt thought about it silently for a few moments before turning further into his friend.

"Thanks Tai," he murmured.

"No problem. You good now?"

"Yeah. We can go catch that movie with the others now if you want,"

"Nah, it's alright," Tai forced a yawn, "I'd rather just chill here tonight." He hunted around his sleeping bag for his pyjamas, delving inside it to change. Matt did the same and in no less than five minutes later they were each wrapped in their separate sleeping bags, gazing up at the ceiling of the tent.

"So you have a dog huh? And your own car?" Tai inquired, turning to face Matt again.

"Mhmm. Bruiser's my dog. Lame, I know, but he has a mark on his back that looks like a big bruise and hell you don't want to play fight with him. He's a Staffordshire bull terrier. And yeah, my car's named Jessika. She's great,"

"Nice, what colour?"

"Purple and black. I'm not very into cars so I know nothing about the make, but she's a sexy convertible and she gets me from A to B so I love her."

"Sounds cool,"

"God I miss them,"

"Who's looking after them at the moment?" Tai's eyes ran over every inch of Matt's face.

"One of the boys back home is looking after Bruiser and Jessika's safely locked in the garage until I get back. It's just… hard y'know? I'm used to Bruiser being around all the time, he comes everywhere with me, and Tom and the others are always around. It's so… odd not being with them."

"Yeah, it's gotta be hard," Tai murmured, eyes set on Matt's plush lips as one moved against the other as he spoke. He couldn't help thinking back to their dare kiss, causing the heat to rise at the base of his neck and butterflies to tingle in his chest.

"You know what I mean though. It's got to be the same with Paul, right? Or worse." Matt bit his lip as he realised his tone was more hurt and envious than intended.

Tai cringed and drew back from Matt an inch or two. He hated how easily he forgot Paul when he was near Matt. He coughed, suddenly feeling trapped and irritated with himself.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have reminded you. It's got to hurt."

"No, no," Tai bit his tongue. Hard. "Truth is" –his voice was cracked to a whisper- "It doesn't hurt half as much as it should,"

"How do you mean?"

"You know what? I don't know. Let's just get a good night's sleep, hm?"

"Yeah, alright, night Tai." Matt turned off the torch.

"Sweet dreams Yamato,"

-x-

The next morning, Matt woke up early and headed straight to the shower block. He was surprised to see Ken in there also. They said their good mornings, each had a quick shower, then joined again in the mirror.

"Woke up early too, huh?" Matt attempted small talk.

"Yeah, Davis was talking utter crap in his sleep, it's hard to sleep through,"

"God, I bet. Y'know, some nights, Tai snores so loud it's surprising I get any sleep at all," the blonde laughed.

"Sounds about right," Ken smirked as he and Matt finished using the mirrors and wandering into the picnic area, both up so early they were still alone. "Do you get the kicks in the shin too?"

"Yeah man! What's up with that?"

"My theory? Playing soccer in their sleep,"

"Ahh…" Matt contemplated, then let out a small laugh, "Would ya listen to us? We sound like their girlfriends or something!"

"Hah, we so do," Ken snorted, "Not that I'd mind of course…"

"What?"

"Nothing!"

"Oh, you like Davis, don't you?!" Matt laughed, "How did I not see that one coming?"

"Maybe 'cause you were caught up in a crush of your own," Ken winked.

"What now?"

"Come on, you're so into Tai. Don't deny it,"

"Well maybe a little…"

"See-"

"Actually, no, shut up. You can't say anything to anyone. I'm not gay and Tai has a boyfriend. Let's- let's get breakfast," Matt rambled, flustered, before getting up and walking over to the cereal stand. Ken just watched with a satisfied grin on his lips.

After breakfast, the group went horse-riding from a ranch not too far from the campsite. On arriving back, Davis suggested they all hang out in Mimi's tent before lunch. Matt however, had dirty clothes after his unsuccessful horse riding, which of course he was not happy about.

"Hell no, I need to change first. Maybe I'll come round after. Tai? You coming?" Matt turned, dashing towards his tent.

"Uh huh." Tai waved to the others then skipped after Matt.

"Those two," Davis muttered, turning to Mimi's tent. "I mean _seriously,_ he says he's choosing Paul then he trails after Matt like a love sick puppy. I mean I hate Paul, but-"

"Awh Davis, I get the feeling you're jealous," Ken teased, sitting next to his friend.

"Got it in one. Davis is too protective over Tai," Mimi smiled.

"Well be fair, he's hounding Matt! They don't separate from each other. It's like he thinks he can get the best of both worlds, but he can't keep Paul and get Matt,"

"Davis, that's unfair. You know that no matter how Tai feels about Matt, he won't cheat on Paul. What I'm worried about it him getting hurt by Matt if he like, finds out or something and hates him for it," Mimi reasoned.

"This is true," Davis sighed, nodding in agreement.

"Don't worry, I somehow don't think that's going to be a problem," Ken interrupted.

"What? Do you know something?" Davis asked, excited.

"I'm not saying anything. Maybe I'll tell you later," Ken smirked, "Now come on, let's hang out. We have woodwork to do later!"

"Fine," Davis pouted.

-x-

During said woodwork session that afternoon, Tai was happily singing the lumberjack song whilst not doing very much work at all, when Davis decided he needed the toilet.

"Ooh, I'll come with you!" Tai ceased his singing and jumped up after Davis.

"Surprised you decided to leave Blondie, even for a minute," Davis commented once far enough away from the group.

"What's that meant to mean?"

"Just that I thought you'd chosen Paul and yet you're still hounding Matt,"

"Matt's just my friend," Tai stated, "I had myself a little epiphany in my sleep last night,"

"Was this after comforting Matt?" Davis joked.

"Yes, it was actually," Tai ignored Davis's quip. "I decided I was totally overreacting to the Matt thing. Sure there's something there but that doesn't matter. I'm in love with Paul, that's what matters. He's always said we'll be together forever and yeah, I believe he's my forever boy. Matt's just a very hot, very good friend,"

"Riiight. Well, good thinking, I guess," Davis agreed.

"Yup. Now will you hurry up and go to the toilet so I can carry on being a lumberjack?"

-x-

They spent the rest of the day doing woodwork, and in the evening they had one big campfire with even more campfire food. The next morning they had to trek back to the main campsite, and unfortunately that was when it started to rain, making it an absolutely drenched, muddy and horribly dull walk.

When they finally got back home, they had a free afternoon and were all able to unpack, shower and change ready for the disco in the main building that evening.

In Mimi's chalet, they were just about ready to go when her phone started ringing. She flipped the phone open and saw it was her best friend Sora, when she answered, the tone in Sora's voice immediately told her something wasn't right.

"Mimi, are you with Tai?"

"Sora? What's wrong?"

"Look, I'll tell you later. Will you just get Tai for me? Please?" Sora's voice was raised and it was obvious she was distressed.

"Oh, um, okay, I'll call you later then, yeah?"

"Yeah, good,"

Reluctantly, Mimi pulled the phone away from her ear and dashed out of her chalet along the path to the boys'. She burst into Chalet 6 where Matt, Tai and Izzy were just getting ready to leave.

"Hey Mimi, what's up?" Tai asked as he pulled on his jacket.

"Tai, Sora's on the phone for you. It sounds important," she said, shoving the phone into his hands before giving Izzy a look that said 'let's leave him to it'.

"Okay. I'll see you up there then guys," Tai said, slightly bemused.

"Are you sure?" Matt questioned, "I mean I'll wait for you if you want,"

"No it's fine." Tai raised the phone to his ear, "Hey Sora, what's up?"

"Come on guys," Mimi muttered, ushering Matt and Izzy out of the room.

"See ya," Matt whispered, glancing over his shoulder at Tai before he left.

On the other end of the phone, Sora was rambling slightly.

"Tai, if I knew something really important that kind of involved you and affected you, you'd want me to tell you, right?"

"Um, it depends I guess. Sora, what's going on? You're worrying me."

"Shit. Um. It's Paul, Tai,"

"What? What's Paul? Oh God, is he okay?"

"He's fine Tai, he's frickin' great."

"Then what the hell's going on?"

"Tai you know we all love you, okay?"

"Sora, just spit it out,"

"Oh crap. Ok Tai. Shit…"

"Sora…"

"Paul's been cheating on you. He's been sleeping with someone else,"

* * *

Okay if anyone was still actually interested enough to read this chapter, thanks, and reviews? they make me happy more likely to update.  
I shan't leave it so long next time, I promise!

_-- Even Gods Dream, 2008_


	6. Chapter 6

A/N:- Uh, hey y'all, anyone still there? So... it's been nearly four years, I'm sorry. But I'm back! And although I can't promise I'll update very regularly, this is a story I definitely want to finish. If anyone's still here and going to read, thank you in advance & I hope this finds you well! Sorry it's taken me so very long!

* * *

**Chapter Six**

"_He's been cheating on you, Tai. He's been sleeping with someone else."_

Silence. It was shock. It was incriminating. Tai stumbled around his mind, trying to comprehend what his best friend had just said. His mouth opened and closed, trying to put words to his jumbled thoughts.

"Tai?"

Snap.

"What the hell, Sora? What kind of sick joke is this? Do you really think I-"

"Tai, calm down,"

"NO. Paul would not cheat on me. Where do you even get off saying that he does?"

"Tai, please calm down and just think about it. I wouldn't lie to you and I wouldn't say anything without being one hundred percent certain,"

"But-"

"I've seen it with my own eyes, Tai. Some of Paul's friends even verified it,"

Tai's heart began to sink, feeling the truth in every word his best friend uttered.

"Who?"

"That Lawrence boy he hangs out with, and we're not sure but there may have been others. All I know is Lawrence isn't just a one-time thing,"

Slowly coming to terms with it, Tai whispered, "I need to talk to Paul," and hung up. Then the realisation hit him like a massive rock. His heart snapped and his legs buckled beneath him. He crashed to the floor as he scrolled through his phone for Paul's number. It rang through to answer phone twice before Paul finally answered with a seemingly irritable and out of breath "what?"

Not really knowing what else to say, Tai gruffly stated, "It's over,"

"What?" Paul's voice came through more attentive and insecure this time.

"It's over, Paul. I **know**."

And with that, Tai hung up.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

From his seat at the empty table at the edge of the hall, Matt glanced around for what seemed to him like the thousandth time since he'd arrived at the disco. Still, Tai was nowhere to be seen. Not that it would have been that easy to spot him amongst everybody, but, to Matt, Tai was the sort of person to stand out in a crowd.

The lights in the Main Hall were out and instead several multi-coloured disco lights took their place. The room was set up with several tables of finger food and a few tables and chairs down one end, with the makeshift dance floor and DJ pit taking up the rest. What Matt had decided was obnoxious, mainstream, repetitive music was being pumped out from the speakers at an appropriate volume.

Matt glanced around again. He could see Mimi and her roommates dancing suggestively on the dance floor, Izzy and his computer friends were sat at the table nearest Matt's, deeply in discussion, and Davis had taken Ken off somewhere after they'd arrived. Yet still no Tai. It was worrying Matt; there was something about the look on Mimi's face or her glance at Davis and Izzy that seemed to charge them with an over willingness to leave right away. It was like they all knew something wasn't right, even if they didn't know exactly what.

Taking in the time from the clock on the wall, Matt realised they'd been there well over half an hour. Tai wouldn't have taken so long unless something really was wrong. He'd been looking forward to this disco. Taking a last bite from the sandwich on the paper plate in front of him, Matt stood up; there was nothing wrong in going to make sure his friend was all right or to see if he needed a hand with anything, surely.

He dashed out of the hall before any of his other friends could ask him where he was going then darted through Reception to outside, where he couldn't help but notice Davis and Ken making out against a wall. Smirking and shaking his head to no one but himself, he rushed towards the cabin, attempting to work out what he could say to Tai when he got there that wouldn't sound weird or stalkerish.

But as he pushed open the cabin door, none of that mattered. The lights in the cabin were off, so at first Matt couldn't see Tai. Then he spotted a hunched body, squatted down between their beds, shaking slightly. "Tai?"

As he heard Matt come in, Tai looked up, and the look on his face almost broke the blonde boy's heart. His eyes were bloodshot and red, traces of tears on his cheeks, a look of pitiful confusion haunting his normally brave features.

"Oh my god, what's wrong, what's happened?" Matt rushed to his friend's side, crouching next to him and wrapping an arm around his shoulder.

"Paul," Tai croaked flatly.

"What's happened? Is he ok?"

Tai nodded resentfully, Paul was just fine, then shook his head, not quite ready to talk or at least not knowing where to begin.

"Okay, um, do you want some water or something?" Matt didn't really know what else to say, but Tai nodded and Matt got up and poured a cup of water from the toilet sink. He handed it to the brunette and then helped him up so they could sit more comfortably on Matt's bed. Tai immediately scooted to the head so he could rest his back against the wall. He looked up at the ceiling, inhaling and exhaling deeply. Matt sat cross-legged in front of him, watching his friend cautiously. They sat in a still silence for a good few minutes before Matt spoke.

"Hey, have some water," he murmured, noticing Tai hadn't touched it yet and just wanting to help.

Tai looked down at the cup in his hands and then did as he was told.

"So, what's happened?" Matt asked.

"He's been fucking other sluts," Tai all but spat.

Matt gasped, partly at the language and tone he'd never have expected to come out of Tai's mouth, but mostly at what his friend had actually told him. He'd never thought that was coming and had to search for words before asking,

"How do you know?"

"Sora," Tai sighed, "She saw it or his friends told her or something,"

"Have you spoken to him?"

Tai nodded, "I called him, told him it was over, hung up," his voice started breaking and a tear or two formed in his eyes, "He called back. He all but admitted it. I asked him why and… silence. So I hung up again,"

"Shit," Matt leant forward and wrapped his arms around Tai's neck, just as Tai's ringtone started playing from the floor. Tai leant his head back against the wall again, whispering "Ignore it," but Matt leant over the bed, picking up the phone. The screen told him it was Paul calling, and he answered.

"Paul?"

"Yeah. Who the hell is this?"

"That's none of your business. You've done enough damage. Tai told you it's over, so leave my friend the hell alone."

"Hey, who-"

Too late. Matt had hung up, briefly noticing a series of missed calls, from both Sora and Paul.

"Thanks," Tai murmured, managing a small grin at the way Matt had handled his now ex-boyfriend.

"Now that's what we wanna see," Matt motioned to Tai's smile. Tai smirked slightly again, then sank further down the bed, losing his smile.

"They tried to warn me," he muttered, "and I chose a boy over my friends. I should have listened,"

"Tai come on now, listen to me," Matt grabbed his friend's hands, forcing him to look directly in his eyes, "This is not your fault. Do not start beating yourself up about this. It's his fault, his mistake, not yours. And you can do so much better,"

"I never wanted to do better. I loved him. He was my forever boy,"

"Come on, now, you don't deserve this. He's clearly an asshole."

Tai sighed, rubbing at his eyes.

"Look, I'm not really great at this stuff; do you want me to go find Davis or Izzy?"

Tai shook his head, "I'm not quite ready to hear all the 'I told you so's" he joked, forcing a grin.

"Ok, in that case, I have an idea," Matt said, scrambling up from the bed, "Wait here, get in your PJs and I'll be back in ten," and with that he was gone.

Within five minutes, however, he was back and armed with bags of potato chips and chocolate.

"I raided the kitchen," he smirked proudly.

"Good move," Tai, still on Matt's bed but now in pyjamas, laughed lightly then caught the food as Matt chucked it at him.

"Mhmm, now scoot over here and give me a hand,"

"Why? What are we doing?"

"You'll see,"

Several minutes and a lot of strain later, the boys had pushed the two single beds together and were now sprawled across them as if one, both in their pyjamas.

"Got a pen and paper?" Matt asked.

"Yeah, why?" Tai replied half-heartedly.

"I've got an idea, get them out,"

Tai did as he was told and Matt got some from his bag too.

"Ok, write down everything you liked about being single before or anything you didn't like about Paul, and for every point I approve of, you get a square of chocolate," Matt explained, snatching the chocolate from Tai's reach before he could make a grab for it.

Tai smiled, "You came up with this, where?"

"When Brian broke up with his ex this is how we cheered him up; junk food and stupid lists. Of course we had bad movies and beers handy, but this'll work for us,"

Tai knuckled down on his list whilst Matt doodled on his paper and tried to jot down things he liked about being single. Eventually the blonde called time up and Tai started reading out his list.

"More time with my friends," was his first point.

"Excellent," Matt nodded, breaking off a piece of chocolate from the bar and throwing it at Tai, "Ok, next,"

"Nope, your go," Tai caught the chocolate mid-air, "You made some too, right?"

"Fine, ok," Matt purposely looked down at his paper so that he didn't have to look Tai in the eyes as he read out, "The mystery of meeting someone new,"

"Nice, I had something like that too. Square each?"

"I think so," Matt agreed, breaking off more chocolate, "Ok, you go,"

"Being able to turn off your phone and not having to explain why,"

Matt laughed, knowing the feeling from a brief relationship he'd had with a girl back home. He passed Tai another square of chocolate as he looked at his list for the next point.

"Freedom,"

Tai nodded and Matt broke himself off another piece.

"Go," he signalled to Tai.

"Random sex with hot strangers. Not that I've ever been into that sort of thing, but it's good to know I have the option should my morals ever change," Tai grinned.

…And so the game went on until both boys ran out of points, at which point they began scoffing the piles of chocolate in their laps. It quickly became silent again until Matt questioned,

"You feeling any better?"

Tai nodded, smiling slightly.

"Do you… wanna talk about it now you're less… angry?"

"A little," Tai nodded, and Matt could feel the frivolous atmosphere chill slightly.

"This calls for cheese puffs then," Matt broke open the bag and offered them to Tai, who took a handful and scoffed them before speaking.

"I never thought he could do that to me, y'know? How… it just isn't making sense to me yet,"

"Mmm,"

"Know what's bad? I'm not even sure how I'm supposed to feel. I was devastated, sure, I'm hurt, kinda numb… but I don't feel heartbroken, y'know? And aren't I meant to?"

"It's hard to say. Maybe… maybe you were expecting it. You said yourself you weren't missing him as much as you should be… Maybe subconsciously you knew something was going to happen…"

"Or maybe I brought it all on myself, thinking about… someone else. Well, hey Tai! Here's Karma and it's got a nice kick in the ass for you!"

"Don't be silly, Tai, he's the dick in this situation, not you,"

"Mmm, maybe,"

"Definitely,"

"I dunno, I guess I feel all over the place,"

"Maybe some sleep would do you good,"

"Maybe," Tai yawned, "Ok, probably," he lay down on his back and Matt did the same beside him.

"I really think I loved him. Like, _really._ But how can it be love if he'd do that to me? He obviously didn't feel the same and that's what hurts and confuses me the most." A few tears sprung to Tai's eyes. Matt reached out and held his friend's hand in his for comfort as he continued, "How can someone be so oblivious? Everyone warned me about Paul, I'd even seen him mistreat people with my own eyes before we were together. But somehow… I didn't think he'd do the same to me. Somehow I thought I could change him." During this, Tai had rolled over onto his side so that he was facing Matt.

"I guess-" Matt shifted onto his side to face Tai, "I guess people don't just change."

"Exactly and that's why I feel so stupid! Thinking that he could! Here's me with a crush on you refraining from doing anything about it while he's there putting it around like the village bike!"

The comment regarding him flew over Matt's head as he watched tears start to fill his friend's eyes. He wrapped his arms around Tai and allowed him to let out the pain and confusion. The comment only really sank in just over ten minutes later, when Matt realised that Tai had fallen asleep in his arms and he too was drifting off.

-x-x-x-x-

It wasn't long later that Mimi snuck into the boys' cabin on the hunt for her phone. When she saw the two boys lying tight together on the bed surrounded by junk food, she sighed to herself. It was then she heard her phone going off and she scrambled around for it, following the light and sound. She quickly answered it, running outside to avoid waking the boys.

-x-x-x-x-

"Think we should go back inside?" Ken asked Davis as they walked along the beach, fingers laced.

"But I like it here," Davis pouted, "with you,"

Ken smirked. "Took your time to say it though,"

"Oh, please! Like you'd have had the guts to do anything! If it wasn't for me pinning you against that wall-"

"Yeah, alright, I get your point," Ken smiled as Davis stopped and spun the violet-haired boy towards him.

"Mmm, you're super glad I did though, admit it," Davis pulled Ken into him so that they were centimetres away from each other's faces.

"As are you." Their lips were about to touch when Davis' pants started vibrating.

"Oof, didn't know you were that glad though," Ken joked as Davis rolled his eyes and pulled away.

"It's my phone," he defended, before answering it, "Ahoy-hoy, what can I do you for?"

"Dai, it's Mimi. Come back to the disco,"

"But Mimiiiiiiii-"

"Davis, it's important!"

"So is-"

"Davis!"

It took until then for Davis to realise that the severity in Mimi's voice was coldly sincere.

"Ok, fine. Wait; is this about Sora's phone call?"

"Yeah, look, just come back up here,"

"Ok, I'm on my way,"

"What's going on?" Ken questioned as Davis hung up, biting his lip.

"I dunno, but it sounds kinda serious. We have to go back. I'm sorry,"

-x-x-x-

"So, Paul _was_ cheating all along,"

"Mhmm,"

Mimi's phone call had been from Sora who had filled her in on everything, and she was now explaining all to Davis and Izzy.

"Jesus, I knew that bastard was bad news. And Tai knows now?" Davis questioned.

"Well, yeah, that's why Sora spoke to him,"

"So why aren't we with Tai?"

"Uh, he's with Matt. Asleep. In the same bed…"

"Oh… like…. Naked?"

"No!" Mimi giggled, "They're cuddling but I don't think anything else has happened,"

"Ok. That's… that's good,"

"Is it?" Izzy mused, "So what's our plan of action? I mean, Tai's going to need us around, even if he acts okay,"

"Or maybe he just needs time alone with Blondie," Davis smirked.

"We'll see,"

After a little more discussion and musing, the three friends headed back inside the disco, which was beginning to die down somewhat. A lot of people were leaving or had already left. Ken was sitting at a table with Mimi's roommates. Davis and Mimi headed over to them whilst Izzy re-joined his friends from IT.

"Hey," Ken bounced up, greeting Davis with a half-hug, "Everything alright?"

"Not really," Davis replied, slightly more sombre than earlier, "I'm ready to go home, you coming?"

"Sure,"

On the walk back to the Cabins, Davis filled Ken in on the situation, adding his own series of rants and raves about how Tai should have listened to his friends in the first place and how he was going to kick Paul's ass at the very first chance he got.

When they reached the Cabin door, the boys froze, Davis more than worked up and Ken just feeling pity along with fear of not knowing what to say. Slowly, Davis walked up the steps, Ken close behind, and pushed open the door. Everything was exactly the way Mimi had described; Matt and Tai's beds were pushed together and the two lay on top of the covers, Tai's face in Matt's chest with the blonde's arms wrapped tightly around him. Davis sighed, the sight slightly calming him down, and then noticed something Mimi had forgotten to mention – half eaten junk food! He tip-toed across the room, picking up some cheese puffs.

"You have weird priorities," Ken shook his head.

"Hey! I checked my friend's okay, and now I'm doing the same for my stomach," Davis defended himself, voice at a whisper.

"Right…"

"You know what? I think it may be a good idea if I stay with you tonight. These two are gonna need their space tonight. I'll come back first thing to check on Tai… if that's okay,"

"Sure," Ken smirked, "you can sleep on the floor,"

"Very funny,"

"I'm serious. I have a spare blanket for you down there and all,"

"I'm getting your bed, bitch, and if you won't move, I'm sharing it!"

"Sounds like a challenge,"

"Bring it!"

"Whatever," Ken shook his head, grinning, then grabbed the quilt from Davis' bed, "Give me a hand a minute,"

The two boys lay the quilt over their sleeping friends so that they didn't freeze overnight. Davis then set about gathering the food, arms full to the brim before heading over to Ken's.

-x-x-x-

_ "Morning Sunshine," came the voice from beside him, waking Matt up. He blinked sleep from his eyes, and turned to see Tai looking at him, smiling._

_ "Hey," Matt mumbled, voice heavy and scratchy from sleep. He coughed to clear his throat then stared straight into the eyes of the brunette whose arm was draped across his chest. _

_ "Sleep well?" Tai's mouth was inches from his own and his warm breath lingered on his face._

_ "Most definitely," Matt grinned, "something like a dream,"_

_ "Good," Tai nuzzled his nose against the blonde's and then their lips met, tongues entwining as Tai positioned himself on top of Matt, running his hands through tangled blonde hair._

Matt's eyes burst open and he rolled over, away from the brunette fast asleep at his side. "Ooh fuck," he mumbled, rolling out of bed and stumbling up, grabbing a towel and clothes from his drawers.

-x-x-x-

At seven o'clock Davis woke up, pulled on his clothes from the previous night and headed back over to his own cabin, kissing Ken's forehead lightly before he left.

When he arrived back at their cabin, Tai and Izzy were both fast asleep but Matt was nowhere to be seen.

_Probably gone to sort out his hair before Tai wakes up, _he decided, sniggering to himself. He contemplated waking Tai up, but instead decided the boy could use his sleep. He silently woke Izzy up, waited for him to get dressed then they headed up to the main cabin for breakfast.

Neither Matt nor Tai made an appearance during breakfast and knowing how much Tai cherished his food, after he'd finished his food, Davis plated up an extra portion of beans on toast and carefully balanced it all the way back to their cabin.

The first thing he noticed when he kicked open the door was that there was still no Matt. Having been gone about half an hour, Davis couldn't help but wonder what on earth the blonde boy was up to, but shook himself of the thought as Tai started stirring. He placed himself at the end of the bed and hovered the plate over Tai.

"Taaaaiiiiiii," he called softly, "I brought you breaaakfaaaaaaaaast,"

Tai rolled over, gradually coming to.

"Mmmornun," he grunted wearily.

"How you doin'?" Davis asked, caution somewhat tainting his voice.

A grunt was all he received in response.

"I brought you food, beans on toast,"

"Putithar," Tai mumbled, pointing to the empty space on the bed beside him, and Davis managed to translate successfully.

"Put it there? Sure you don't want it now?"

"Mmmhmmm,"

"So, listen, I was thinking instead of going up the Sports Block this morning, we could chill here, maybe go down the beach,"

"No," Tai said, gradually becoming more alert.

"No?" Davis echoed.

Slowly, Tai rolled over and sat up. He smiled at his friend from underneath his mop of dark hair.

"I'm okay, Dai,"

"You're okay?"

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not exactly jumping out of bed with joy right now, but I'm alright,"

"Really?"

Tai nodded. "Pass me my food," he grinned, "listen, you should still go up to the Sports Block. I'll pass this morning, but that's only cause I need to prepare for all the '_I told you so_'s that I'll be getting from you lot later,"

"Hmm, fine," Davis didn't look so sure, so Tai gave him a spirited wink then tucked into his food.

The boys had a little banter back and forth whilst Davis changed for sports, but after he left, Tai sighed and leant back against the wall before picking up his phone to delete all of Paul's text messages and missed calls.

-x-x-x-

Matt wasn't to be seen at the Sports Block that morning either, though that didn't really surprise anyone. Davis got questioned many times about the absence of Tai, however, who'd become quite the soccer star of the Blue Group. Davis just told everyone that he'd had too much to eat last night and wasn't feeling up to sports.

As soon as the morning was over, Davis, Mimi and Izzy all went to see Tai. They found him awake, though still in bed and on the phone to Sora.

In the meantime Ken was headed down to the beach with his roommates along with Yolei and her roommates. As they set up blankets and towels to sit on, Ken noticed Matt standing alone at the edge of the lake.

"Guys, I'll be back in a bit ok?" he told his friends before separating from them and heading over to Matt.

"Hey Matt,"

Matt was clearly startled by the other boy's approach, having been too caught up in his thoughts to notice him.

"Oh, hey Ken,"

"You alright?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm ok. How are you?"

"Yeah, good,"

"Mmmm… of course you are. Saw you and Davis getting together last night,"

A blush rose to the younger teen's cheeks. He hadn't been aware that anyone had seen him and Davis together.

"Yeah, well, saw you and Tai all hugged up sharing a bed last night," Ken retaliated, and Matt's neck went equally red, his face turning solemn as he stared back out over the lake. Ken immediately regretted bringing it up so carelessly. The elder boys' situation was clearly far more complex than his own.

"So… I heard what happened… How is Tai?"

"I was actually hoping you could tell me," Matt mumbled, "I haven't spoken to him since last night,"

"Why not?"

Matt shrugged.

"I'm sure he wants you around,"

"I dunno,"

"Come on Matt, you're competing with _Davis_ for his affection. You guys are clearly good friends. He really likes you,"

"Well-"

"And I know you really like him,"

"Yeah, but it's not that simple, is it?" Matt raised his voice slightly as he turned and started to walk away.

"Why not?" Ken fell into step alongside the blonde boy.

"Well he's just broken up with his boyfriend of nine months!"

"All the more reason he could use a friend around. You might just be exactly what he needs,"

"Maybe,"

"So go see him!"

Matt shook his head.

"Why not, Matt?"

"It's just not right,"

"Explain,"

Matt sighed, running his head through his hair exasperatedly, "It just doesn't work like that for me."

"But you _like _like him. You basically admitted it to me, and everyone else has already guessed,"

"But-"

"And he likes you too,"

"Exactly. He doesn't have a boyfriend anymore and he likes me,"

"Ok Matt, I'm really not following what the problem is here."

"Look, when he had a boyfriend and I didn't **know** he liked me, before he told me last night and it was out in the open, I could like him and it wasn't a problem. It was just a harmless flirty thing that I knew couldn't go anywhere. But now he's single and… God, I can't be gay!"

Ken paused momentarily, then, "Riiiight, why not?"

"It's not who I'm meant to be,"

"Meaning?"

"My lifestyle, my dad, my school. I'm not gay! It doesn't work,"

"Why not be yourself instead of who you think other people think you're meant to be?"

"No, Ken, I appreciate the concern, but it's not happening, it's just not."

"Whatever Matt, what are you gonna do anyway? Just sit on this beach for the next two weeks?" Ken sighed, walking off and back to his friends.

-x-x-x-

Mimi, Davis and Izzy stayed with Tai all afternoon. They talked about Paul, they talked about home, they talked about music, they talked about Ken, they talked about films and sometimes they talked about Matt.

"So what's going on with you two now?" Mimi asked.

"I honestly don't know. It's a little hard to get my head around right now, y'know? Am I ready for something else? I don't think Matt is, I haven't seen him all day. He's probably freaked out after I mentioned the crush,"

"So it's your job to find him and talk to him,"

"Why?"

"Because you know better than anyone that if it hadn't been for Paul, you two would have been sleeping together in more ways than one by now," Davis winked.

"I dunno,"

"Come on, Tai, you guys are totally, like, emotionally connected," Mimi chimed in.

"Yeah…. Yeah I guess we are,"

"So what are you going to do?" Izzy asked.

"Nothing,"

"Well that's just fantastic," Davis stood up; ready to lecture Tai when there was a knock at the door.

"Come on in," Izzy called.

The door opened and Ken walked in.

"Hey guys, how are we all doing?" He asked carefully, not wanting to draw any attention to Tai's or his and Davis' situations.

"We're good Ken, how are you?" Tai replied, he and Mimi both beaming up at him, having had Davis fill them in on their situation earlier.

"Uh, yeah," Ken blushed lightly, "I'm good. I was just wondering if I could talk to Davis… alone,"

Tai whistled and Mimi giggled. Ken blushed harder, grabbed Davis by the wrist and dragged him from the cabin.

_So. Cute. _Mimi mouthed.

Tai chuckled, "Well at least that just spared me another of Davis' lectures,"

-x-x-x-

Ken dragged Davis away from the cabin and out of earshot of their friends.

"So thanks for _that_," he said, through gritted teeth.

"Awh, no need to be so shy," Davis chuckled.

"Sure,"

"So, hey, I missed you today," Davis whispered, stopping and pulling Ken in towards him.

Ken blushed, "You saw me this morning,"

"Only briefly during Sports, and I didn't get a chance to do this," he placed his lips on Ken's, kissing him softly.

Ken blushed harder, looking around to make sure no one else had seen after Davis pulled away, before grinning, "It is a shame we didn't get to do more of that," he joked, "but right now there's another situation that I think needs your attention,"

Ken took Davis' hand in his, leading him towards the lake. As they walked, Ken filled his friend in on the conversation he'd had with Matt a few hours before. Davis rolled his eyes and had his rants as only Davis could but as they reached the beach, he silenced. They stood at the edge, scanning the area for the blonde boy, then finally spotted him sat on a rock further downstream.

Matt had his headphones in, music turned up loud, thinking about anything to avoid the main topic on his mind. He'd even started mentally compiling a list of good things about his father's new fiancée.

He'd been paying such little attention to his surroundings that he once again almost jumped when he noticed two figures heading towards him, and immediately tensed when he realised that it was Davis and Ken. The last thing he wanted right now was another intervention. As they neared he reluctantly stopped his music and took out his headphones.

"Hey Matt," Davis greeted calmly, for once realising that the situation needed to be treated delicately.

"Uh, hey guys, what's up?" Matt replied cautiously.

"We'd just come for a wander down here and noticed you all alone. I haven't seen you all day so I just thought I'd come see what's up," Davis lied, "We've missed you. Tai's missed you,"

"Thanks Dai, but spare the spiel, okay? I'm not ready to go back up yet. I've already spoken to Ken and I'm sure he's told you what I had to say,"

"Alright then," Davis sat down cross-legged in the sand in front of Matt, "in that case, I'm only going to echo what Ken had to say, but also, come on, Matt, you're freaking out over nothing. And how much of an ego do you have that you think Tai's gonna want to move on straight away? You two haven't even talked yet,"

"Yeah, and I'm really not ready to," Matt turned away from the two boys and put his headphones back in, at which point Davis's carefully constructed patience snapped. He jumped up from the floor and snatched Matt's headphones from him.

"Okay, you wanna know something Matt? Right now you're being pathetic. You're being a pathetic little bitch. I honestly thought more of you. Tai got hurt last night pretty damned badly and instead of being there for him as a friend – or what_ever_ – you've spent the day avoiding him because of your own stupid feelings. Can you not see how selfish that is? You're willing to make the boy feel rejected a second time around, what, just 'cause you're too _cool_ to like guys? Just 'cause Daddy wouldn't approve?"

Silence hung over them for a few moments as Davis glared at Matt, daring him to respond. Matt just broke eye contact, gathered up his things and stormed off.

Davis breathed heavily, counting to ten to calm himself, then turned back to Ken who was staring at him in shock.

"Dai, I'm not sure that was such a good idea," he muttered.

Davis just grinned, "Trust me, it was,"

-x-x-x-

About an hour after Ken had taken Davis off somewhere – Tai could only assume to make out in private – Izzy was off doing "computer stuff" and Mimi had gone back to her own cabin. Tai had the cabin to himself and was on the phone to Kari. Having heard from Sora what had happened with Paul, she wanted to be sure her big brother was okay, but after Tai had insisted that he was doing fine, what they both found far more conversation worthy was Davis' new romance.

"So what does he look like?" Kari asked of Ken.

"Eh, pretty cute. Kinda almost purple hair, pretty face-" Tai started, but was interrupted by a knock at the door, "IT'S OPEN!" he called out, and was about to carry on his conversation when the door creaked open and he glanced over.

"Sorry sis, I've gotta go, I'll call you back later," he apologised, hanging up, then turned to the figure standing in the doorway, "Hey,"

"Hey," replied the blonde, with a sheepish half smile.

* * *

_- Even Gods Dream, 2012_


End file.
